Millions of Android smartphones ‘at risk’ of hacking in Middle East
01:10AM Fri 22 Aug, 2014
Dubai: Smartphone users in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East and Africa region are in danger of having their bank, email and social media accounts hacked, amid reports that some 178 million mobile devices are now potentially vulnerable.
Network security company Palo Alto Networks announced on Tuesday that there are security risks in the internal storage used by applications on Google Android devices. The company said that nearly all, or 94 per cent, of the popular Android applications are at risk.
The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is home to 524.8 million mobile users. It is estimated that the security threat puts more than 178 million devices in danger within the region.
Android is Google’s mobile operating system that is installed on most smartphones and tablets, to enable consumers to watch videos, search for information or send emails on their phone. Android phones also let users download applications that provide easy access to social media, as well as their personal bank accounts.
The risk lies in the faulty Andorid Internal Storage, which is a protected area that stores private information of phone users, including passwords and usernames. The company warned that with the security risk, it may be easy for anyone to steal users’ sensitive data and no security enhancements may be able to provide some protection.
“An attacker may be able to steal sensitive information from most of the applications on an Android device using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) backup/restore function. Most of the security enhancements added by Google to prevent this type of attack can be bypassed,” Palo Alto said in a statement.
The company said anyone using a device running version 4.0 of Android, which is about 85 per cent of Android systems in use today, is potentially vulnerable.
An attacker, however, would need to get their hands on the device to use the backup system ( ADB) either by borrowing or stealing the phone. A potential hacker could also take control of a system to which the device is connected via USB.
“Over 94 per cent of popular Android applications, including pre-installed email and browser applications, use the backup system, meaning users are vulnerable,” The company said.
“Many Android applications will store user passwords in plain text in Android Internal Storage, meaning almost all popular e-mail clients are vulnerable.”
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