New Android Flaw Lets Hackers Into Your Phone With Just a Text
The best defense against any of your gadgets becoming flooded with malware has always been personal vigilance. “Hmm, this app looks sketchy and is from a third-party app store I’ve never heard of. NOPE!” But a new vulnerability, discovered by security experts at Zimperium, can attack your phone with just a text. According to Zimperium researcher Joshua Drake via NPR, here’s how this scary bit of malicious hacking happens: The bad guy creates a short video, hides the malware inside it and texts it to your number. As soon as it’s received by the phone, Drake says, “it does its initial processing, which triggers the vulnerability. The real culprit here is our endless thirst for convenience and Hangouts, Google’s SMS alternative. Because Hangouts automatically processes video so it’s ready in your gallery, the malicious code enters your phone without you even clicking on the text. So essentially, you receive one malicious text and your smartpho...