By now, you must have heard about the frightening Android bug that was discovered last week that lets hackers take over your phone with a single text. In case you haven’t, it is called Stagefright and it lets attacker remotely execute code using multimedia text messages. In most cases the users doesn’t even see the message.
Stagefright is said to be the biggest Android security problem for years now. The exploit leaves almost 95 percent of all Android users susceptible to attacks. Any Android device equipped with Froyo 2.2 or newer are vulnerable, meaning most.
Well, worry not, Google is hard at work fixing it — and the search giant is calling it the biggest software update in history. Google’s Adrian Ludwig provided details about the fix at the Black Hat security conference that’s currently on at Las Vegas. Even as you read this, updates are being pushed out — fast — to Google’s Nexus line of phones, which means that if you have a Nexus 4, 5 or 6, you should be hitting that ‘Check for Updates’ button like crazy right now. According to Ludwig, non-Nexus devices will get the update sometime this week.
“This security update contains fixes for issues in bulletins provided to partners through July 2015, including fixes for the libStageFright issues. At the same time, the fixes will be released to the public via the Android Open Source Project,” Google notes in an official Android blogpost.
Meanwhile, Samsung has also announced its new aggressive Android security update process that will track faster security patches over the air when security vulnerabilities are uncovered. It plans security updates on a regularly basis about once per month. The company claims to have fast tracked security updates to its Galaxy devices with the recent Android Stagefright issues working with the carriers and partners.
Samsung, LG, and Google have pledged to roll out monthly security updates to remain one step ahead of hackers going forward.
