Samsung Electronics has announced it will work with Google and telecommunications operators to deploy Android software fixes faster when security vulnerabilities are uncovered.
“Working with the network providers and partners, Samsung has fast-tracked security updates to its Galaxy devices with the recent Android Stagefright issues,” the company said in a statement.
“Acknowledging the importance of time sensitivity in addressing major vulnerabilities, the company plans to further improve the system and employ it as a timely security patch practice,” it added.
The Stagefight software bug affects all versions Android from 2.2 and up. It allows an attacker to get privileged access to a target device and even execute code remotely on it. Attackers simply send a malicious MMS message to the device they’re targeting in order to compromise it.
Wikipedia explains that the “underlying attack vector exploits certain integer overflow vulnerabilities in Android’s core component called Stagefright, which is a complex software library implemented in C++ as part of the Android Open Source Project and used as a back-end engine for playing various multimedia formats such as MP4 files”.
Despite the bug being revealed almost a month ago now, few Android devices have been patched.
Samsung now says it will implement a new Android security update process that fast-tracks the security patches over the air when vulnerabilities are uncovered. “These security enhancements will take place on a regular basis,” it said.
“With the recent security issues, we have been rethinking the approach to getting security updates to our devices in a timelier manner. Since software is constantly exploited in new ways, developing a fast response procedure to deliver security patches to our devices is critical to keep these protected,” said Samsung South Africa enterprise mobility director Paulo Ferreira in a statement.
“Samsung is currently in conversation with network providers around the world to execute the new approach. More details about the specific models and timelines will be released soon.” — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
