Reacting to vulnerability, a Samsung spokesperson told the Guardian: “Samsung takes emerging security threats very seriously”.
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A mobile security researcher with NowSecure, Ryan Welton, while carrying out security tests on most of the latest Samsung smartphones, discovered some security flaws. According to NowSecure, the security hole allows an attacker to hack into the Galaxy smartphone through a network by accessing a vulnerability in the device’s pre-installed SwiftKey keyboard software.
According to Samsung, which is reported on Engadget, “most of its users have Knox enabled by default and will get a prompt to apply a new security policy automatically”.
NowSecure listed the Samsung Galaxy S6, S5, S4, and S4 Mini as vulnerable, but noted that its list was not all-inclusive.
Those who own a Galaxy S3, though, or a non-flagship phone don’t have this option and, it would seem, may have to wait a longer to receive a patch, which will eventually come in the shape of a firmware update.
In its official statement the company is at pains to point out that the likelihood of an attack successfully exploiting the vulnerability is low.
“For clarity, this issue does not affect SwiftKey’s consumer keyboard applications on Google Play or the Apple App Store, and we are absolutely committed to maintaining world-class standards in security and privacy practices for our users”, said the company.
“This includes the user and the hacker physically being on the same unprotected network while downloading a language update”, it said.
The Samsung Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5 were introduced in China today, and both phones have a flash for their front-facing camera.
The South Korean tech giant didn’t dispute the report from NowSecure and pledged to roll out security updates in the next few days to “invalidate any potential vulnerabilities”.
SwiftKey is also affected by the Samsung keyboard bug which has made people worry over their smartphone usage. Apparently, this was just the first device from the new series, as recently, the manufacturer announced the Galaxy J5 and J7.
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