In an urgent warning for smartphone users especially Samsung, the Government of India have asked them to update their phones as soon as possible. Multiple Samsung smartphones including the flagship S23 phone are under hacking threat and their data may leak in the upcoming days. The warning has been issued against Samsung Galaxy phones. The security advisory from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) points out the multiple vulnerabilities impacting millions of Samsung Galaxy phones, spanning both older and newer models.
The threat advisory was issued on December 13, 2023. The CERT-In in its advisory urgently asks Samsung phone users to update their Operating system or firmware. The agency was quoted saying, "Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Samsung products that could allow an attacker to bypass implemented security restrictions, access sensitive information, and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system."
Reports suggest that the susceptible software to this threat includes Samsung Mobile Android versions 11, 12, 13, and 14.
What are the major threats Samsung Galaxy users facing?
The agency listed a few points for Samsung Galaxy users if they do not update their operating system or firewall. Below is the threats Samsung Galaxy user are facing-
- Steal phone's secret code (SIM PIN).
- Shout loud commands to phone (broadcast with elevated privilege).Peek into private AR Emoji files.
- Change the clock on the castle gate (Knox Guard lock).
- Snoop around phone's files (access arbitrary files).
- Steal important information (sensitive information).
- Control the phone like a puppet (execute arbitrary code).
- Take over the whole phone (compromise the targeted system).