Vulnerability in Samsung phones allows targeted surveillance



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According to a study by IT security researcher Jiska Classen, millions of Samsung phones lack an important mechanism.

A Bluetooth security breach on the Samsung Galaxy S8 has been reported to allow targeted surveillance. According to a study by IT security researcher Jiska Classen of TU Darmstadt, millions of Samsung cell phones lack an important mechanism that normally encrypts data transmission between Bluetooth devices securely, as reported by the “Spiegel” on Friday. .

Accordingly, hackers could use the security breach to intercept sensitive data that is transferred between Bluetooth devices in plain text. “Attackers could read passwords or messages using Bluetooth keyboards,” says Classen magazine. It would also be conceivable for hackers to listen to conversations through Bluetooth headsets. Attackers would have to be in the vicinity of victims at times. Parking in front of a target person’s car is, in principle, enough.

The vulnerability would theoretically only allow targeted eavesdropping, but not mass surveillance, IT security researcher Thorsten Holz told Spiegel. However, the lack of protection for Bluetooth connections is questionable. The vulnerability was not an issue for using one of Corona’s planned warning apps, which also work via Bluetooth.

Samsung confirmed the vulnerability to “Spiegel”. Galaxy S8, S8 + and Note8 models are affected. An update will be available for these models in the coming days. So far, there have been no reported cases where hackers have actively exploited the vulnerability.

>>> Report on “Spiegel.de”

(APA / AFP)

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