Researchers recently discovered a crypto key vulnerability that puts 86 percent of Android users at risk, according to several reports. This type of security flaw can give hackers the opportunity to access banking information, virtual private information or even a user’s lock pin screen.
As reported by Android Headlines, a crypto key is similar to a key unlocking a door. Essentially, it is a parameter that allows an object to be decrypted when matched with its counterpart encrypted object.
The discovered flaw impacts devices that run on Android 4.3 or below, which Google says is about 86 percent of devices.
Dan Wallach, a computer science professor specializing in Android security at Rice University spoke to Ars Technica on the matter, and said that this particular vulnerability might not mean that users banking information is at risk. Wallach explained that most banking apps force you to type your password every time, and are probably safe against this particular attack.
“If the attacker can get anywhere near your money, then it gets more interesting,” Wallach said. “Likewise, for companies that load VPN credentials into your phone, so you can connect through their firewall to their internal services, there could be a variety of nasty attacks, since you’ve effectively given the attacker the keys to get through the firewall.”
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