Tech Security: Shutdown Malware on Chinese Phones, Lenovo’s Superfish Cure, Hacked SIM Encryption

Shutdown Malware on Chinese Phones

AVG Antivirus has spotted a type of malware that targets phones running Android v4.4 and below.

The malware emulates a phone shutdown sequence, making the user assume the phone is in shutdown, but is actually fully functional and accessible to hackers.

It is reported that phones with root access are less likely to be infected, but users are urged to be extra cautious about download sources of apps. Furthermore, phones running on Lollipop OS will not be affected — a pretty good reason to want for a Lollipop update.

Lenovo’s Superfish Cure

Lenovo has been busy trying to salvage the situation they’ve dropped themselves into. Recent Lenovo laptops have reportedly been installed with the Superfish adware, which was supposed to help users discover new products.

However, the tech company had failed to spot a serious security flaw, wherein users logged onto the same Wi-Fi network as the adwared machine will be able to hack through the computer’s web encryption. This allows the hacker to spy on the user and even feed malware into the infected laptop’s data stream.

Lenovo released a tool that would uninstall the Superfish program as well as remove web browser certificates, and are taking a serious step, working with Microsoft and McAfee to ensure all affected machines will be cured of the bug.

The company said the laptops infected are those sold between September 2014 and January 2015, but give their confidence that no ThinkPads are affected.

Hacked SIM Encryption

SIM-maker and digital security company, Gemalto is currently investigating the claims that the Mobile Handset Exploration Team has gotten their hands on encryption keys of Gemalto SIM cards.

The MHET is a joint force of some of NSA and GCHQ agents. They allegedly spied on Gemalto operations, specifically how the encryption keys were handed off to their wireless carriers partners. The team then intercepted the hand off and have gained access to keys of millions of SIM cards.

With access to encryption keys, users’ calls and messages can easily be accessed and monitored with ease. Furthermore, as SIM cards are simply transferred from smartphone to smartphone, the spies have backdoor access to the phones as well.