Relevance: Smartphone Security
Author: Ryan Johnson
Date: 11th August 2023
Article: quokka
Did your android smartphone come furnished with carrier apps, some that may not be removed?
Just came across an article on the security of carrier software on various android devices where the researchers have provided a list of smartphones they have examined and found to have vulnerabilities within 21 prepaid Android carrier devices in the US…
…In the instances of insecure pre-loaded software on the prepaid Android carrier devices we discovered, we demonstrate that a third-party app that requests 0 to 1 permissions in its manifest file, can achieve a range of capabilities without proper authorization by leveraging insecure co-located, pre-installed software…
Devices from the following US carriers have been examined:
AT&T
Bost Mobile
T-Mobile
Tracfone
Verizon
Visible
..So at this point, you may be wondering how to protect the personal data on your device. A good place to start is by educating yourself on the threats and risks associated with mobile devices. In general, it is critical to keep all of your software up to date as each update may contain security fixes that patch known software vulnerabilities…
Good advice, and the article finishes with a direction to Q-Scout, a free Android and iOS app that checks whether your device has been impacted by vulnerabilities.
Keep that mobile device and your data safe..
(Disclaimer, I have no association with any of the aforementioned parties, etc..)
