NEW YORK: Tallahassee, FL – Android phone users beware. A virus could be targeting your cell phone. The virus gives hacker total control of your device.
The flaw in Google’s Android operating system was disclosed Monday. Experts say it’s the worst phone virus to date.
Chauncy Riggsby says his friends know that he doesn’t like anyone messing with his phone. “That results in a punch.” He says. But now Chauncy could get “hit” back from a bug in Google’s Android operating system.
The virus is called, “Stage fright.”
Chauncy says, “I think there is a lot of viruses out there and hackers. It may happen, but, hopefully it won’t.”
Experts say 95-percent of Android devices are at risk of being hacked. That’s 950 million gadgets.
The bug comes through a text message, and once it infects the phone, a hacker can take full control of all functions. They have access to your phone’s data, photos, camera, and microphone.
Tallahassee resident Eli Neff has an Android. She says, “It’s kind of scary. Just not safe from anybody. You hear about passwords and you know you have to make sure that you’re changing out passwords and everything. But, if it’s coming through texts and SMS instead of email, you know they say don’t open email, but if it’s just text, then what can you do?”
Making it even scarier, the attacker can infect your Android simply by sending the text. You don’t even have to open the message for the virus to work.
“Yeah, I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.” Neff says.
The company that identified the flaw says it told Google about it in April and even told them how to fix it. But, the fix is not widely available.
All Android phones made in the last five years are at risk.
