According to research, 57% of all Android devices are currently vulnerable to data, privacy breach.
The Android ecosystem is facing yet another serious security risk. According to Gal Beniamini, a security expert and member of Qualcomm's Product Security Hall of Fame, those looking to buy an Android device should only consider buying a Samsung or a Nexus smartphone.
As per a recent demonstration by Beniamini, this latest Android attack bypasses a phone’s full disk encryption. The lack of Android’s monthly security patch updates is the reason this vulnerability exists in around 57% of all Android devices. As per a report shared by Duo Labs, the CVE-2016-2431 vulnerability discovered by Beniamini, can easily expose a user’s smartphone data to hackers. The report goes on to add that hackers can “break through the levels of trust and privileges that are intended to ensure only legitimate code can access secret material, such as DRM or disk encryption keys.” So, having a security code or app locks would not help if a hacker really wants to get to an Android smartphone’s data.
Duo Labs decided to look further into Beniamini’s recommendation of buying Samsung, Nexus smartphones, and found out that devices of both brands are patched 75% till now, putting them on top of the list of Android devices with security patches. In their report, Duo recommends, “If your manufacturer has not yet made patches available, put some pressure on them to do so. As always, we find the only Android devices that we can recommend without major reservations are Nexus and, now, Samsung devices, provided they keep releasing those security updates quickly.”
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