Android | The Text Message Hack Controversy

Android Text Message Hack

Research published on Monday confirms: Android phones can get infected by merely receiving a picture via text message 

It affects an estimated 950 million phones worldwide -- about 95% of the Androids in use today. This has become the biggest smartphone flaw ever discovered at the present.

The problem stems from the way Android phones analyze incoming text messages. Even before you open a message, the phone automatically processes incoming media files -- including pictures, audio or video. This implies that a malware-laden file can start infecting the phone as soon as it's received, according to Zimperium, a cyber-security company that specializes in mobile devices.

This Android flaw is somewhat like the recent Apple text hack.
But in that case, a text message with just the right characters could freeze an iPhone or force it to restart.

This Android flaw is worse, because a hacker could gain complete control of the phone; wiping the device, accessing apps or secretly turning on the camera.

Google has assured that Android has ways of limiting a hacker's access to separate apps and phone functions. Unfortunately, hackers have been able to overcome these limitations in the past. 

The bug affects any phone using Android software made in the last five years, according to Zimperium. This includes devices running Android's Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop iterations (Google names its Android versions alphabetically after desserts - More on this is coming up soon).

Android

The issue now is: how quickly Google will manage to fix this for everybody. With Apple, updates can be pushed to all iPhones, but Google can't.  This is largely due to a notoriously well-known fractured distribution system.

Several entities stand in between Google and its users, and they routinely slow down the release of new software. There are phone carriers -- like AT&T and Verizon -- and makers of physical devices -- like Samsung, Sony, etc -- all of which need to work together to issue software updates. 

For this very reason, Google recently put its own Nexus phones first in line to receive updates.

This could be a test case that shows why it's so important to receive updates quickly.

Chris Wysopal an executive at cyber-security firm Veracode. He called this the devastating bug that put millions of computer networks at serious risk last year. 

Android Text Hack