As smartphones and computers evolve, so do the security measures needed to protect devices. Although manufacturers are constantly trying to protect devices with new updates, hackers are also constantly looking for new vulnerabilities.
If you remember, a critical vulnerability was found in Windows 10 and 11 in the past weeks. Today, it has been revealed that an important security vulnerability has been detected that can endanger almost all Android devices.
All applications with viruses can be signed securely
With an update to the Google Play Store last year, it regularly scanned the applications you have installed on your phone and notified users when it detected an application that could harm your phone. A similar system was made by Samsung’s security application and Xiaomi’s security application. These systems usually checked the signatures of application packages (APK) and compared them with malicious application signatures recorded in many cyber security systems, especially Google.
However, according to the information revealed by Google’s malware engineer Lukasz Siewierski, hackers can bypass the firewall by signing this malware as another application or a system application, thanks to several platforms. Even worse, these applications can be real system applications with viruses embedded in them.
In order to test the updates to the applications, users generally prefer to download the beta version of the application from the platforms on the internet. While some users prefer legal websites supported by Google such as APKMirror, some users download the application from the first website they see. If you are jumping on the first site you see or constantly downloading modded applications, you may have infected your phone with a virus with this method.
Manufacturers like Samsung and Xiaomi are at greater risk
For this method to work, hackers need the platform key of the applications. Although Google’s leaked or hacked program keys usually belong to old versions of applications, according to the statement made by APKMirror, the current keys of many applications of companies that produce applications that rival Google such as Samsung and Xiaomi have been stolen recently.
In the research, viruses in applications with old keys can be detected by the firewalls of the devices, while malicious software with updated keys cannot be detected, unfortunately.
If you think that you are affected by this method, which turned out to be used in November, the only thing you can do is to format your phone as soon as possible.
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