According to Israeli-Ben-Gurion University security researchers, the most popular and secure Smart phone Samsung Galaxy S4 is not “so-secure” from Hackers. The much-vaunted enterprise software Samsung Knox is the security software basically the “Container” in Samsung Galaxy S4 which prevents from unauthorized access but this container is vulnerable to hackers. They break the security breaches.
The reported security hole can get at your email, personal data, and other information which you would like to keep private. The container is supposed to by impervious to security violations, which includes the attempts of hackers to break into it. Samsung’s container runs a different yet unique execution environment for data and apps. This is supposed to prevent any applicatons that are run outside of the container from accessing the data within it. The report says that even if the app were installed on a device outside the Knox container, the malware could be activated to record all the data communication taking place inside the container.
Samsung is not denying the potential for vulnerability in Knox Security software but is downplaying the possibility keeping it reserved to get it proved by its security researchers. With the demise of Blackberry, other smart phone companies like Samsung and Apple are trying to fill the market niche for secure and reliable smart phones and other devices. The Samsung Galaxy S4 smart phones were the Korean company’s latest attempt at filling this niche. A few months ago, the Pentagon accepted the use by the Department of Defense of Apple’s iPads and iPhones. Currently, Samsung smart phones and other devices also have this approval.
Supposedly, the Knox enterprise security software is as secure as the Blackberry software. Up until this news by the Ben-Gurion University researchers, at least, the U.S. government was thoughtfully using the Samsung Galaxy phones. The Knox platform is designed so that users can keep their personal data on the same device as their important, work-related data, which is protected separately by the Samsung security software.
But in the worst-case scenario surfaced from the recently reported vulnerability, it could be possible for hackers to use the security hole to install hostile code that could cripple an enterprise’s entire security network, the report said, citing cyber security experts at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
The university researchers said the security gap is considered to be a “category one” or most serious, vulnerability. The company plans to investigate the claim further, but the report says the university researchers appear to have conducted their tests using GS4 devices that are not loaded with all of the software that an enterprise user would have.
In a statement from Samsung, they have said that users of their Galaxy S4 smart phones shouldn’t worry about the possibilities. Their statement reads that “the core Knox architecture cannot be compromised or infiltrated by such malware.”
But the question which still remains is how secure are your smart phones, are they really smart to dodge the hackers or not. Till then keep your important stuff away from your smart phone.
