Mobile Security: Protect your mobile device from Stagefright – new Android vulnerability

What is Stagefright and how to protect my device?

Stagefright is believed to be the worst Android vulnerability yet discovered. All devices running Android versions Froyo 2.2 to Lollipop 5.1.1 are affected, which are used by approximately 95% of all Android devices, by nearly 1 billion people. Hackers only need to know your phone number to infect your device.

The malware is delivered via a multimedia message (MMS) sent to any messenger app that can process a specific video format – like an Android device’s native messaging app, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp.

If you want to learn more about this issue, please visit Avast blog.

The most common Android messaging apps load videos automatically. You can protect yourself by disabling the Auto retrievefeature in your default messaging app, so that videos cannot be loaded in the background and infect your device.

Instructions for the most common messaging apps can be found in the following articles:

• Instruction for Messages app
• Instruction for Google Hangouts app
• Instruction for Messenger app
• Instruction for Messaging app
• Instruction for WhatsApp