Researchers claim that this vulnerability could give hackers full access to the devices affected.
Not even the monthly security patch covers this major flaw, but we are expecting Google to release an “emergency patch”, to fix the issue. So who exactly is affected? Every device that runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets, which means too many.
Quadrooter was reported by Check Point, a computer security firm. According to them, any hacker could develop an app to take advantage of Quadrooter. Once this app is on the device, the hacker could potentially take over the phone entirely. Check Point says that the devices affected are up to 900 million.
This all sounds really dangerous, but if you purchase and download your apps from the Google Play Store you are pretty much okay. Google has its own security filters and it is always scanning for malicious apps, and that way it is very secure. If you download apps outside the Play Store there is more of a chance to get malware (as always actually), so be careful with what you download.
I feel that the media forgets to mention that most of the security issues come when downloading apps from third-party stores or from the internet. I think people are overreacting and that Check Point wants some big headlines to grow their company. I could be wrong on the Check Point part, but I do think media is overreacting.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a big security flaw, but there’s little chance (if any) that you get attacked if you stay safe by downloading apps on the Play Store. We will have to see when are the security patches from Google going to arrive, and how long will it take to OEMs to deliver them to their smartphones.
Let’s hope manufacturers can actually be quick with this patch, ’cause we all know that most OEMs haven’t been the best on the security patches thing.
S.D.Tech 