Another bug has appeared in the Google Android operating that can lead to system failure and apparently a dead phone. A security firm and antivirus developer, Trend Micro, stated that they have a discovered a fatal bug in the Android system that can crash a smartphone, disable or even turn off the screen and the calling feature and much more permanently on a smartphone.
“We have discovered a vulnerability in Android that can render a phone apparently dead, silent, unable to make calls, with a lifeless screen,” Trend Micro engineer Wish Wu said in a blog post.
Trend Micro stated that the Android 4.3 and up to 5.1.1 are under the effect of this bug, and Google must roll out the update as soon as possible. According to Google, all the Nexus devices will have the updates rolled out soon to fix, however, owners of other smartphone companies must wait till their vendor releases a patch for it. Certainly this is one of the major pitfalls of the Android ecosystem that there are many vendors with each releasing its own customized and tweaked Android.
Nexus users will be notified about the update, and all they have to do is just install it.
According to the reports, so far no one has been affected by the bug and the Internet giant is acting to have other vendors roll out this update to their customers.
Just a few weeks ago, another bug was discovered by a security researcher in the media playback and was coined as StageFright. StageFright can do a lot more harm to the smartphone but requires the user to interact with an outside object such as a malicious website or an app. Once an encounter occurs, the smartphone can be triggered anytime from any location around the world, and at any time of the day.
Cyber crime is a far-reaching issue and is similar to a digital war against someone whom you don’t even know. There are black markets of exploits and criminals often sell and buy the exploits for the thousands of dollars. These exploits are then used by the black hat hackers to exploit the computers and smartphones.
However, there are good guys on the other side finding such bugs and responsibly disclosing them so that a patch can be rolled out for it as soon as possible.
