Military Smartphones Are a Hacker’s Dream
From: The Daily Beast
Telecom carriers and manufacturers are holding back critical software updates to the Pentagon’s supposedly secure phones, putting classified information at risk.
By Jeff Larson, ProPublica
You would think the nation’s military would move with lightning speed to patch cell phones vulnerable to hackers, particularly after recent disclosures that Chinese hackers harvested the personal information of 21.5 million U.S. government employees and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard broke into the Obama Administration’s social media accounts.
For nearly five months, military officials and officers have continued to use phones that can be attacked by the “Stagefright” bugs, a collection of flaws in the phones’ software code that gives attackers access to everything that flows through compromised devices. The bugs can expose those devices to hackers through a simple text message or a visit to the wrong web site.
Print article |