From: Mondaq
Article by Laura E. Jehl and Dave Thomas |Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
Earlier this week, the FTC and FCC announced “parallel” investigations into how carriers and mobile device makers release information on vulnerabilities, and how and when mobile security patches are distributed. The regulators, who have publicly jockeyed for position on privacy and cybersecurity matters in the past year, appear to have reached a truce of sorts, allowing each agency to examine industry players within its core jurisdiction.
The FCC and the FTC are knocking on the door of the mobile communications industry to investigate a series of recent critical security flaws on mobile devices, including the so-called Stagefright vulnerability, which affected nearly a billion Android devices and was discovered last July. Although the Stagefright problem has since been patched, vulnerabilities remain on older devices and may never be patched, leaving them exposed to the Stagefright bug. The FCC noted that “to date, operating system providers, original equipment manufacturers, and mobile service providers have responded to address vulnerabilities as they arise,” rather than creating a more comprehensive and coordinated program to ensure security on older devices.
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