“In July, a security researcher revealed that Android phones could be hacked with a simple text, thanks to a series of bugs in the Android operating system that are now commonly known as Stagefright,” Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reports for Motherboard.
“On Thursday, the same security researcher warned that two new Stagefright bugs can allow hackers to break into your phone by tricking you into visiting a website containing a malicious multimedia file, either mp3 or mp4,” Franceschi-Bicchierai reports. “Joshua Drake, a researcher at Zimperium zLabs, and also author of the Android’s Hacker Handbook, found that one vulnerability affects “almost every Android device” since the first version of the operating system, released in 2008. The second vulnerability allows hackers to trigger the first, even in newer version of Android, such as 5.0 and above.”
“Researchers at Zimperium zLabs estimate that at least 950 million Android users, and likely more are vulnerable to these these bugs,” Franceschi-Bicchierai reports. “Zuk Avraham, the company’s founder and Chief Technology Officer, said that it’s likely that 1.4 billion people are affected.”
“Just an aside here: That’s the main reason I wrote a rant about abandoning Android and jumping ship to the iPhone,” Franceschi-Bicchierai reports. “Again, if you care about security, perhaps you should think about switching to another operating system.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Open.” As in: WIDE.
Now to be fair, this is only because Android is an inferior product peddled to cheapskate tech illiterates who do not value their privacy and/or who are unable to recognize a half-assed knockoff from the revolutionary original.
Android is a BlackBerry clone that was hastily rejiggered to mimic iPhone at the last minute. Obviously, mistakes were made. (smirk)
So, the Android rush-job is a security nightmare. It’s a fragmented morass. It’s too many cooks in the kitchen. It’s crap-by-committee junk.
And anyone who rewards blatant thieves by settling for Android garbage deserves their fate.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s iOS beats Android in multiple meaningful ways – August 18, 2015
Waiting for Android’s inevitable security Armageddon – August 10, 2015
Android fingerprint sensors aren’t as secure as iPhone’s Touch ID – August 10, 2015
Apple iPhone sees highest switching rate from Android ever recorded – August 10, 2015
This is how Apple’s iPhone kills Android phones – August 7, 2015
Certifi-gate: Hundreds of millions of Android devices vulnerable to stealth unrestricted access – August 7, 2015
Malformed video files can be used to crash half of all Android phones – July 30, 2015
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
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Tayster” for the heads up.]