Samsung update: Millions of smartphones and smartwatches around the world are at risk of being hacked due to a serious flaw in Samsung's Exynos chipset. Google's Xingyu Jin and Clement Lesigne exposed this high-risk Exynos bug and it affects a host of Exynos chipsets, including the Exynos 9820, Exynos 9825, Exynos 980, Exynos 990, Exynos 850, and Exynos W920.
To put it into perspective, these chips power many of the company's popular smartphones and smartwatches. The list of smartphones affected by this bug includes Samsung Galaxy S20 series, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series, Samsung Galaxy S10 series, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series, Samsung Galaxy A21, Galaxy A51, and Samsung Galaxy A71. Talking about smartwatches, this vulnerability also affects the Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Watch FE, and Galaxy Watch 4.
According to data shared by Google's threat analysis group, the vulnerability in the mentioned Exynos chips could allow hackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged process on the targeted device. This, in turn, will allow hackers to access users' personal and private data such as bank account details, passwords, read conversations, and even photos and videos.
This bug was particularly difficult for security researchers and on-device software to find because it would disguise itself as a Samsung process. However, Samsung has not disclosed whether the bug could be used by malicious attackers to target users. Whether it has been fixed or not, Samsung has warned users of the vulnerability.
Samsung device owners can protect their data from this vulnerability by downloading the latest version of the software available on their smartphones and smartwatches. To update a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, users need to go to the Software Update section in the Settings app and then tap on the Download and Install option. Similarly, to update software on a Samsung smartwatch, users need to go to the Watch section of the Galaxy Wearable app. You have to tap on Watch Software Update option in Settings.
Comments are closed.