There's been a flaw found in the code that Android uses to render .PNG images. What does this mean in non-techie terms? Well, basically, it means that a malicious person could write a little program and embed it in an image file, and either embed it in a website (or an ad on a website), or send it out via an email, or MMS message, and if your Android phone or tablet receives that message, or tries to view that website, it will run that malicious program, which could potentially take over your device.
What can you do? Well, you could just do nothing. The chances that you're going to come into contact with an infected image file is considerably less than 50%. However, if you want to be on the safe side, you can disable MMS messaging, and turn off image rendering in your phone/tablet's email client and web-browser (provided you're using a browser and email client that lets you do that). Then you have to hope that your device's manufacturer can be bothered pushing out an update that fixes the issue.
This is not the first such flaw to be discovered in Android, which is why I have had MMS turned off for years. However, I also understand that for a lot of people, sharing photos is one of the main things they use their phone for. At the end of the day, you'll have to decide for yourself, if you want to take the risk or not.
2 comments :
Bah. I'm just going to hope that Samsung fixes it soon. I need my phone to be functional, not crippled by no images. And I'm not buying an iPhone instead either. :P
Then you're in the same boat as 99.9% of the people I've told about this, Suze.
It seems that people like me -- who primarily just use their phone for phone-calls -- are a dying breed.
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