A single line of coding has been discovered that can wipe the devices back to factory settings.
The latest mobile news has shaken some owners of Samsung smartphone devices, as they discover that activities as simple as visiting an mcommerce website, scanning QR codes, or using NFC transactions could be enough to wipe all of the saved data and settings from their devices.
The tiny piece of coding is enough to return the phones back to their original status.
The malicious coding has so far been reported as being able to cause the following Samsung smartphones to reset to their factory settings: the Galaxy S3, S2, Beam, S Advanced, and Ace. Some of the larger threats are through NFC and QR codes, as it would be simple for unethical individuals to encode them with the necessary line, causing Samsung users to unknowingly wipe their smartphones as soon as a single scan is performed.
It only takes one scan of QR codes or access through any other means for damage to be done.
As soon as the coding has been received by the device – whether it is through QR codes, NFC, or any of several other methods – there is nothing that the Samsung device user can do but watch as the smartphone resets and all of the saved downloads, data, and settings to the way they were when the device was first purchased.
Until now, the coding has only been identified. It has now been spotted, though it has not actually been worked into any means by which it can cause damage to the average user’s device. However, it is now believed to be only a matter of time before a malevolent individual decides to abuse this knowledge and wreak havoc on the Samsung mobile world.
Security researcher, Ravi Borgaonkar, was the first to have reported this smartphone vulnerability. The announcement was first made at the Ekoparty security conference. There, Borgaonkar demonstrated that a hacker would be able to use a webpage to force the code into the phone and cause the device to reset. He indicated that this could be accomplished through any means that directs a user to the malicious site. He explained that anything that could cause the smartphone to open a URL – from ads to hyperlinked emails and from QR codes to NFC – would be able to exploit this device flaw.
