Many Cellphones Offered by the Four Major US Carriers Have Built in Vulnerabilities
Research funded by the Department of Homeland Security has found a “slew” of vulnerabilities in mobile devices offered by the four major U.S. cell phone carriers, including loopholes that may allow a hacker to gain access to a user’s data, emails, text messages without the owner’s knowledge.
The flaws allow a user “to escalate privileges and take over the device,” Vincent Sritapan, a program manager at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate told Fifth Domain during the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.
The vulnerabilities are built into devices before a customer purchases the phone. Researchers said it is not clear if hackers have exploited the loophole yet. Department of Homeland Security officials declined to say which manufacturers have the underlying vulnerabilities.
