“Researchers have developed an attack that puts more than 50 percent of Android phones into the digital equivalent of a persistent vegetative state in which they’re almost completely unresponsive and are unable to perform most functions, including making or receiving calls,” Dan Goodin reports for Ars Technica.
MacDailyNews Take: “Persistent vegetative state.” Just like those who buy them.
“The vulnerability, which resides in the mediaserver service Android uses to index media files, can most easily be exploited by luring a vulnerable phone to a booby-trapped website,” Goodin reports. “Presumably, the phone can be revived by restarting it, but according to a blog post published Wednesday by a researcher from security firm Trend Micro, the bug can also be exploited by malicious apps.”
Goodin reports, “In this latter scenario, the malicious app could be designed to automatically start each time the phone is turned on, causing it to crash shortly after each restart.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Fragmandroid sufferers, you are coming to a sad realization.
Cancel or allow?
SEE ALSO:
Security journalist: Goodbye, Android, hello Apple iPhone! – July 29, 2015
950 million Android phones can be hijacked by malicious text messages – July 27, 2015
New Android malware strains to top 2 million by end of 2015 – July 1, 2015
Symantec: 1 in 5 Android apps is malware – April 25, 2015
Kaspersky Lab Director: Over 98% of mobile malware targets Android because it’s much, much easier to exploit than iOS – January 15, 2015
Security experts: Malware spreading to millions on Android phones – November 21, 2014
There’s practically no iOS malware, thanks to Apple’s smart control over app distribution – June 13, 2014
F-Secure: Android accounted for 99% of new mobile malware in Q1 2014 – April 30, 2014
Google’s Sundar Pichai: Android not designed to be safe; if I wrote malware, I’d target Android, too – February 27, 2014
Cisco: Android the target of 99 percent of world’s mobile malware – January 17, 2014
U.S. DHS, FBI warn of malware threats to Android mobile devices – August 27, 2013
Android app malware rates skyrocket 40 percent in last quarter – August 7, 2013
First malware found in wild that exploits Android app signing flaw – July 25, 2013
Mobile Threats Report: Android accounts for 92% of all mobile malware – June 26, 2013
Latest self-replicating Android Trojan looks and acts just like Windows malware – June 7, 2013
99.9% of new mobile malware targets Android phones – May 30, 2013
Mobile malware exploding, but only for Android – May 14, 2013
Mobile malware: Android is a bad apple – April 15, 2013
F-Secure: Android accounted for 96% of all mobile malware in Q4 2012 – March 7, 2013
New malware attacks Android phones, Windows PCs to eavesdrop, steal data; iPhone, Mac users unaffected – February 4, 2013