Keyboard bug leaves 600M Samsung Galaxy devices exposed to hackersJune 18, 2015 - 11:09 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A vulnerability in Samsung’s Android keyboard installed on over 600m devices worldwide could allow hackers to take full control of the smartphone or tablet, The Guardian reports. The security bug revolves around the update mechanism of the built-in keyboard, which looks for language updates for trending phrases either daily or weekly. “The keyboard was signed with Samsung’s private signing key and runs in one of the most privileged contexts on the device, system user, which is a notch short of being root,” said researcher Ryan Welton from security company NowSecure who discovered the hole. The problem was discovered last year. NowSecure told Samsung about the bug in December. Samsung asked NowSecure to keep the discovery under wraps until it could patch the problem. Google’s Android security team was also notified. However, six months on it is unclear whether the patch is out. Samsung started that process in early 2015, but unlike Apple’s direct model of software updates, is beholden to mobile phone providers to push out updates to their users. It is unclear whether that has happened and on what scale users have updated their devices. Photo: Samsung Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | International cybercrime ringleaders arrested in Armenia, Ukraine Europol, Europe's crime agency, has arrested four ringleaders of several cybercrime networks that used botnets. Armenia skips CSTO Defense Ministers meeting A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries began in Almaty. Armenian, Iranian foreigh policy chief talk over the phone The Foreign Minister of Armenia once again expressed condolences to his counterpart on the death of the President of Iran. Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. |