LAS VEGAS — Once thought to be unhackable, the Android phone is anything but, according to researchers presenting at Black Hat 2010.
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Not only has suspect software cloaked in a wallpaper application gathered personal information from infected phones and sent it to a Web site in China, but researchers from Lookout Mobile Security have found a way to take the phones over completely – including top-of-the-line models hawked by major wireless carriers.
In one presentation, Lookout’s CEO John Herring said the Jackeey
Wallpaper app, which has been downloaded millions of times, can gather a device’s phone number, subscriber identifier, and currently programmed voicemail number.
In a separate presentation, researchers said top-of-the-line Android phones used by Sprint and Verizon can be taken over completely by attacking known flaws in the Linux operating system that underpins Android, researchers reported at Black Hat 2010. “It gives you root control, and you can do anything you want to do” with the phone, says Anthony Lineberry, a researcher for Lookout Mobile Security.
The company says Android’s reputation for security may be exaggerated. “It survived the recent pwn2own slay fest unscathed, but this does not mean it is safe by any means,” the company said in describing Lineberry’s talk.
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