Two security experts have released a tool that attacks smartphones using Google Inc’s Android operating system, to expose a bug that lets hackers read victims’ email and text messages.
Nicholas Percoco, head of Spider Labs in the US, along with a colleague, released the tool at the Defcon hacker’s conference in Las Vegas, according to Reuters.
Percoco said the malicious sofware took about two weeks to build. Once installed, the ‘root kit’ allowed hackers to gain total control of Android devices and steal precious information. Users would have no clue that information was being stolen, said Percoco.
The test attacks were conducted on HTC Corp’s Android-based Legend and Desire phones, but Percoco believed it could be conducted on other Android phones.
The tool was released on a DVD given to attendees at the Las Vegas conference. Some 10,000 hackers and security experts attend the conference, the world’s largest gathering of its type, where computer geeks mix with federal security officials.
Conference organisers say presenters release tools such as Percoco’s root kit to pressure manufacturers to fix bugs.
