This week, hogging Android negative headlines again. The company of Israeli origin Check Point Software, the same who discovered the malicious programs created by a company of Chinese advertising in July, announced the discovery of four vulnerabilities that compromise 900 million devices, ie, almost one-seventh of the world’s population and about 64 percent of the 1,400 million phones equipped with the operating system Google.
the flaws were found in the program that allows the operation of processors American brand Qualcomm. This piece of ‘software’ is known as ‘controller’ in the specialized circles
. (Also: failure Android affect the seventh of the world)
Adam Donenfeld, researcher at Check Point Software, took the stage of the conference of the world’s largest hacking, ‘Def Con’, on August 7, and said, sounding tremulous, that about 90 percent of the devices use chips Qualcomm brand. This includes names like Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, BlackBerry, Huawei and Motorola. She was sold as a threat, but is it
The set of vulnerabilities christened with a name worthy of a comic book villain? ‘Quadrooter’. What does it mean? ‘Quad’ refers to four, and ‘rooter’ refers to the gaps allow, if exploited, access to the ‘root’ of the Android system (root in English is ‘root’).
Get to the root of the system would ensure an attacker to gain “administrator permissions on the device to make modifications to the operating system, applications and configurations, among others,” say the experts of the security company Eset.
But can breathe easy: take advantage of those weaknesses, fortunately is not so simple. What cybercriminals could do it is design a malicious application to take advantage of the fissures in question. The victim would have to lower the harmful app on your mobile device and install it. Only in that case, an attacker would achieve its task.
Jeff Zacuto, evangelist Check Point Software, he told TIME that have been no confirmed case of a person who has fallen prey to cybercriminals due this set of vulnerabilities.
Check Point Software alerted Qualcomm errors for three months. The US firm had time to amend the ‘wounds’ and create ‘antidotes’. Android, meanwhile, was also notified and already gave solution to three of the four errors.
“In September the patch to include the remaining fault. This implies that there is still some risk margin “confirmed Zacuto.
Similarly, for peace of millions of users, Google has a system called Verify Apps. It was designed to check downloaded applications are ‘clean’, whether they come from the official store (the Play Store) or other less reliable place. The tool is enabled by default on Android Jelly Bean computers from the version presented in 2012. Therefore, at this point 90 percent of cell phones with the operating system Google have it.
This tool was already enabled to block malicious applications based on ‘Quadrooter’.
Why is it unsafe?
Android has gained a bad reputation in terms of security for several reasons. For starters, it is an open system, what does that mean? That anyone with enough knowledge, have access to the system and can modify code.
And so do almost all phone makers. Samsung, for example, uses Android as a base, but also designs its own version of the user interface (dubbed ‘TouchWiz’). In specialist circles, this modification call ‘personalization layer’. The Huawei is called ‘Emotion UI’; Sony’s called ‘Timescape’; the LG ‘Optimus UI’, and HTC ‘Sense’.
So while all use Android, the user experience may feel different. Not like the control panel of a camera than a Huawei Samsung. Do not feel like sailing in one or the other. Icons vary, transitions, color palette and textures, among other things
This leads to the universe of Android is fragmented. And that’s a serious problem when errors are discovered in the system. Patches, or in other words, the antidotes against sickness must be adapted to each existing version. Each manufacturer (like LG, Samsung or HTC) to distribute updates and so it should do telephony operators. It can take months for amendments security reach users
eye to this fact. Experts computer security firm Kaspersky Labs estimates that about 97 percent of the ‘virus’ existing mobile were created for Android.
, in part, This is because it is easier to upload a malicious application on the official store. It is also easier to distribute application packages infected in third-party stores.
But above all, it responds to the most popular operating system and has caught the eyes of cybercriminals.
There is an application to detect the fault
Check Point Software released a mobile application that helps check if your mobile phone is susceptible to an attack due to the four failures discovered. The can download from the official store Google under the name of ‘Quadrooter Scanner’ or address bit.ly/2b8itsj
To prevent your phone from being infected by viruses, Check Point recommends users download and install the latest Android updates available. it also suggests not install Android apps that are not in the official store and review their applications no unusual request permission to settle. Be suspicious when an ‘app’ consume more battery than usual. Finally, access to reliable wireless networks.
EDGAR MEDINA
Writing Technosphere
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