The Android Stagefriight virus is feared to infect around 950 million Android users. The virus, according to the experts, will give hackers an access to the phone's data, internal and external, and control the phone remotely.
The infection is scary enough but what's even more scary is the fact that the virus can infect a device with just a simple text message and once the phone is infected, the hacker can erase all traces of infiltration and will continue to hack the phone without showing any clues that hacking is taking place.
ABC News reported that the Android Stagefright Hack only needs a message to infiltrate a device. The virus will use an infected picture that is packed with a malware. Once the user opens the picture message, it also opens the machine for the attack.
According to the report, the only users that are safe against the virus are those who runs on version 2.2, which is basically a Jurassic operating system, technology speaking. On the other hand, the only thing and effective way to battle such attacks are anti-viruses that can be downloaded, at no cost, on Google Play.
On a separate article about the newest virus, Forbes said that it only takes one text message to hack around 950 million Android phones. An expert from the IT industry confirmed that all devices in the industry are vulnerable; there is no such thing as safe, with regard to hack attacks. The virus will allow the hackers to get into the device and get private data such as pictures and data. Stagefright can also access data that are stored on the phone's external memory and even run the phone's Bluetooth remotely. The hack attack is common on Google's messenger Hangout.
Another thing that is very scary about the Stagefright virus, according to Fortune, is its ability to be invisible while the infiltration is being held. Once the infected picture is opened, the user has no idea that his or her data is being compromised.
Another expert said that the hackers can infiltrate the phone's data while the owner is sleeping and can delete all traces of infiltration anytime. The expert also added that the owner of the device will also have no clue that he or she is holding a trojan-ed phone once the infiltration happened.
Stagefright can be a very scary virus for the 950 million users but no matter how dangerous or tricky the virus is, the only thing that a user can do to protect his or her phone is not to give out their number easily and do not open any messages that comes from a very suspicious sender.
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