Hack Android Device With a Simple Text

Zimperium, a company that offers enenterprise class protection for mobile devices, has discovered a new alarming vulnerability in Android, which allows hackers to take control of device with a simple text. Yes TEXT!

In an interview with NPR, Zimperium researcher Joshua Drake stated that:

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 most important part of this vulnerability is that exploitation happens before the sound that you’ve received a message has even occurred, making it absolutely silent.

This makes it clear that main problem is human thirst for convenience and Hangouts, Google’s SMS alternative. The important “feature” of Hangouts allows video auto processing, meaning that a malicious piece of code may find a new home in your devices without your intervention.

Zimperium praised Google for doing a good job by implementing security patches however they emphasized that, even if patches this lapse in security, that’s only going to reach so many people. According to Drake, that’s only 20 percent.