Google has just released a fix for a high security vulnerability for its Pixel phones, but Maddie Stone, a security researcher at Google Project Zero, reports that three Galaxy phones have become targets for hackers for having zero-day security breaches.
Stone claims that three Samsung cell phone models are affected by the security breaches:
- Galaxy A50;
- Galaxy A51;
- Galaxy S10.
The researcher details that only models with Exynos processors have the problem. It also claims that only one component used by hackers to break into devices was obtained, so it is possible that more devices could be affected by the breach.
In the Project Zero blog post it is mentioned that the spyware used by hackers could be Hermit, which was created by RCS Lab and targeted people from Italy and Kazakhstan.
The exploit uses read and write privileges on the device’s kernel memory to extract data from the device, which is then sent to criminals for fraudulent use.
Three of the security flaws were reported by Google to Samsung in late 2020, which released fixes for them in March 2021.
However, as the exploit kit used by hackers has not yet been fully exposed, the recommendation is not to install applications from unknown sources and always use security protections on your smartphone such as Google Play Protect and other reliable antivirus.
