Samsung dialer remote-wipe vulnerability

Just as the new iPhone had a vulnerability, so too does a range of Samsung smartphones. Late last week it was discovered that some Samsung phones could be remotely wiped clean with the Dialer app. Right now, it is unclear why exactly someone would want to employ this type of assault on Samsung phone users because there is no monetary benefit. It has been studied that hackers normally do their "hacking" for financial gain. However, there is no monetary gain in simply wiping the personal information out of someone's phone. Samsung sent an over-the-air patch out to try to clear the issue up but it's not clear if all Samsung phones will have the patch available to them.

Lookout Mobile Security, a popular mobile phone antivirus, has issued a free fix that will scan telephone links before they open and tell you if they are malicious. This should help the majority of Samsung phone users with security of their phone. Lookout is the only antivirus company to produce a patch for this sort of breach.

As I said in my last post, it's inevitable when a new phone rolls out for there to be security breaches within them. It's great that companies like Lookout are taking a proactive approach to protecting consumers information. However, far more should be done by everyone to combat the huge problem of mobile cyber security. It seems like companies don't take this type of breach seriously since it only involves dumping of the users data, no attacks on their money etc. A simple breach like this is practically an open door for more attacks to be studied and implemented based off of the breach example. For instance, once they learn they can gain access to your personal infomation through the Dialer app they can then use the information to try to figure out how to steal from people through this approach.

I've feel like we've hit the time where we've created enough technology/gadgets to keep us happy for a long time. Now, we need to work on keeping these items secure and also learn how to maintain them. Most of us aren't even aware of the full range of capabilities of the teachnology we have surrounding us.