Gadgetory

a new security flaw in Google's Android operating system may affect millions of users according to researchers at mobile security firms imperium an attacker could take control of a device and gain access to information on the handset the vulnerability is found in stage fright androids media playback tool one example of an attack is via text message depending on the messaging app you use you don't have to open the message for your device to be compromised the attacker can send an especially crafted MMS file that is automatically being parsed and then the phone will be infected it can also be triggered via other means like a browser it can be triggered to be a chrome or firefox so whenever you go to any website that has this specific vulnerability Google was notified of the vulnerability a few months ago a Google spokesperson said the security of Android users is extremely important to us so we've already responded quickly to this issue by sending the fix for all Android devices to our partners unlike Apple's mobile operating system iOS updates to the Android platform are distributed through wireless carriers and phone manufacturers it's then up to them to push out updates to users so Android users could stop using all messaging apps on their phones but that's very unlikely so essentially we need to wait for the patches to come out for now simpie reom says that it doesn't believe anyone is exploiting the security flaw Google also makes its applications run in something called a sandbox which limits and apps access to anything outside of itself the security firm suggests Android users update to the latest version although that doesn't guarantee the patch has been applied in San Francisco Lexus Avedis cnet.com for CBS News