Smartphone Management Flaws Puts Users At Risk, Researchers Say

[Ron Burgundy]

By Eric Auchard VIENNA (Reuters) - Security researchers have revealed two separate threats this week they say could put up to 90 percent of the world's 2 billion plus smartphones at risk of password theft, stolen data and in some cases let hackers take full control of devices. One vulnerability involves flaws in the way scores of manufacturers of Apple, Google Android and Blackberry devices, among others, have implemented an obscure industry standard that controls how everything from network connections to user identities are managed. The threat could enable attackers to remotely wipe devices, install malicious software, access data and run applications on smartphones, Mathew Solnik, a mobile researcher with Denver-based cyber security firm Accuvant, said in a phone interview. A separate threat specifically affecting up to three-quarters of devices running older Android software has been unearthed by researchers at Bluebox Security of San Francisco.

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