"USB and Bluetooth Accessories Can Be Used to Attack Android Phones and Spy on Owners"
A team of researchers from Purdue University and the University of Iowa have published a paper in which they bring attention to the presence of a major flaw in popular Android smartphones. The exploitation of the flaw could allow hackers to use Bluetooth and USB accessories to perform a number malicious activities such as block incoming phone calls, forward calls to a different number, disrupt cellular internet connectivity, intercept text messages, track the location of owners, and more. The vulnerability derives from the way in which some Android smartphones enable Bluetooth and USB accessories communicate with baseband firmware. Researchers developed a tool, called ATFuzzer, to find potentially harmful commands to the baseband firmware. Using ATFuzzer, the researchers discovered 14 commands, which could allow hackers to perform malicious activities on 10 different Android smartphones. This article continues to discuss the new security exploit that impacts several popular Android smartphones, the responses to this discovery from Android device manufacturers, and what Android owners can do to protect themselves.