Quadrooter – the latest security bug for Android phones, particularly those which runs on Qualcomm chips is affecting 90 Crores Android phones worldwide.
Security firm Check Point discovered the most recent threat and named it as Quadrooter. It is not a single threat; it is a collection of vulnerabilities found on Android phones.
Does your phone at risk?
If you are using an Android smartphone that runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon or other variant mobile processor then your phone definitely at risk. Most of the Android phones we use have Qualcomm chipsets. So a significant amount of phones worldwide has the issue.
What is the reason behind this?
Similar to Desktops and Laptops, every mobile device must have device drivers to communicate with the different components in the phones we use. Qualcomm chipset provides networking, camera, phone, graphics and memory hardware in the phones we regularly use. The same company develops device drivers to make comfortable for the Android operating system to communicate with the hardware. Check Point found four critical bugs in device drivers Qualcomm developed which allow malicious applications to obtain root access to our Android-based phones.
What are risks
Once a dangerous app got the root access, it can listen to our voice calls, spy on your phone camera, or misuse the financial details stored on your phone. The attacker can do anything on your phone. To protect from the risks these apps cause to our phones, it is a good idea to disable “install from unknown sources” from the Settings menu.