If you are using an Android smartphone you are at a huge risk of getting infected with a deadly virus, which can move, copy, delete, all your data on your phone with just a text message. This new vulnerability is being dubbed as, StageFright.
The issue is much bigger. With so many Android OS fragments around, people having different updates installed on their new or old phones, having various carriers and device manufacturers, from around the world, it is getting real difficult for Google to roll out patches on time.
It is very possible that the virus might get you before an official security patch reaches you. To prevent that possibility, special thanks to those few settings within your phone, by which you can apparently buy you some time.
StageFright, does not come from an app at Play Store, specifically. It comes embedded in a multimedia message. All of the Android phones have default messaging app. If your default messaging app is, Hangouts, you need to bother a lot, as the Hangouts is programmed to process a message, as soon as it receives it.
If the hangouts process opens the MMS, you are hacked already. There are exactly 2 options, you can consider right away to keep your android smartphone safe at the moment.
Option 1
You can quickly go-to your settings and change the default messaging app from ‘Hangouts’ to the good old regular ‘Messaging’, yes that yellow classic icon. There seems to be a possibility that majority of the phones do not have the default ‘Messaging’ app anymore. If that is the case, see option 2.
Option 2
If you are one of those unfortunate android users who is stuck with Hangouts or cannot leave hangouts for the love of your friends, you have to ‘uncheck’ – Auto Retrieve MMS option, which is comfortably seated in the Hangouts > Settings > SMS > Auto Retrieve MMS, to rule out imminent virus attack.
These little changes will draw the first line of defense against StageFright. But this is not yet done. If you happen to get a luring MMS, and you still choose to open it anyway, out of sheer curiosity, you will be one among those 950 million android smartphone users who can be a victim of this potential risk, for bad.
If you need further assistance do let us know in the comments below.
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