NEW YORK–Android users, beware.
Six vulnerabilities in the Google software have left about 95 percent of Android phone users susceptible to a virus, which could be delivered easily through a multimedia text message.
Joshua Drake, from Zimperium zLabs, reported in April that the bugs existed. He said on Monday that while Google has sent patches to phone manufacturers, he doesn’t think the manufacturers have made the necessary improvements to protect customers. Drake told Forbes that as many as 950 million Android phones could become infected by a virus.
According to an article from Forbes, the issues are embedded within Stagefright, a media player on Android phones that plays media from MMS messages. The type of bug, if released, could allow hackers access to private data, as well as the ability for hackers to record audio and video, see photos stored on SD cards, and use Bluetooth to further gain valuable information.
Drake also told Forbes that the type of bug would allow the hackers to infiltrate your phone without you ever finding out–the MMS message could discreetly be sent, and then deleted before you even read it.
Google released a statement in response to Forbes, thanking Drake for discovering the issues and for submitting patches to Google to fix the issues. Google says its manufacturing partners should send out the fixes soon, though it must also be noted that Google’s own phone, the Nexus, has not yet delivered a fix to its users.
