A collection of Google Nexus devices that will undergo Stagefright security update. (Photo : Reuters)
Following the Stagefright vulnerability published on July 28, Tuesday, Google has taken a step to have its Nexus devices undergo a security update.
Although there is no prove of an extensive hack, the possibility of malicious MMS attacks through Android's built-in media handling system, which could supposedly affect many Android devices currently in the market, is definitely an area of increased concern, Android Police reported. Google has known about the susceptibility since April and has been working on covers to solve the issue.
In a statement, Google's representative said that this vulnerability was identified in a laboratory test on previous Android devices, and as far as the company is concerned, there are no known hacks associated with the hitch. As soon as Google learnt about the vulnerability, it moved fast and assigned a fix to the company's partners for purposes of protecting users.
"As part of a frequently planned security update, our company plans to push further protections to Nexus devices from next week," the Google official said. "Google will be releasing the safeguard in open source when details are made public by our researcher at BlackHat."
According to We Tech-Geeks, Nexus devices including those that are not yet running on Android 5.1 platform will undergo an update from next week. Evidently, that leaves most of Android phones susceptible to the exploit, but Google has shared its ongoing research with product developers - it will make at least some of its solutions open source.
The moment details of the exposure are more explicitly published, it will be a call to action for Android device developers, especially those that lack the best collective record for fast updates, to make their devices safe as fast as possible. Blackhat sets stage next week in Las Vegas.
