Slashdot Mirror
Samsung Fixes Cellphone Keyboard Vulnerability
An anonymous reader writes: Several days ago, news broke that Samsung's keyboard software on their Galaxy series of cell phones had a glaring security issue that left 600 million devices vulnerable to attackers. The company has now fixed the flaw internally, and is making plans to roll out security updates to affected devices. They say the likelihood of an actual attack is low, because a particular set of conditions need to be met before any damage could be done.
I hate these god damn layout changes.
Fuck you idiots at Dice!
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
What else is new
What a staggering lot of Linux driven devices in consumer hands. Mind boggling.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Not liking the new layout. I want my old slashdot back.
I miss having applications that only updated when YOU wanted it....
I hate the forced upgrades with the web, 95% are not wanted.
Before I gave up on Android, I would always use Google keyboard. I used to want to use a bluetooth keyboard with my S4 but everytime i paired / unpaired the keyboard with my phone the default keyboard would get changed back to Samsungs. I always thought Samsung's keyboard sucked and could only stand using Google keyboard. Eventually that and various other moronic Android or Samsung glitches/bugs made me give up and move to iOS. That was an S4, can anyone tell me does Android still suck majorly Windows-style nowadays? Android is shit IMO
please help me understand: exactly what makes you periodically think these layout changes are welcome?
The shortcut for .co.us, .or.us, and .go.us.
But most likely not.
--sf
I notice all the whiners and trolls bitching about the layout changes are Anonymous Cowards.
Somehow it figures that people so lazy that they can't be bothered registering an account would also be the first to complain.
You're always welcome to just fuck off and go elsewhere to whimper on the internet, you know? Try Facebook -- they seem to love pathetic whiners and drama queens like you.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Life is change. Stop whining and get over it, or write your own stagnant website that never adapts itself to any new technology. Maybe you could even write it in COBOL, just for giggles. :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Because those updates need to go through the carriers.. and lord knows they will not provide updates to people using "outdated" devices... even if they use the latest S6, the carriers will just turn a blind eye and not update it. That's why manufacturers need to put in an Update option in their phones already, which links directly to a server owned by the manufacturer(or google), instead of relying on the OTA updates that will never come.
Transcript of a recent meeting at Dice HQ:
Boss: What the hell? Slashdot's revenue dropped again? What happened?
Middle management #1: That is strange, our beta design was supposed to increase traffic.
Middle management #2: Yeah strange right? We spent weeks making sure the beta was difficult to use as hell, then we shove it down the user's throat, how could our traffic tank after that? HOW?
Middle management #3: It can't be our fault, my 3 year old son was playing with beta before the launch and he absolutely loved it, he just learned how to use a mouse and he was clicking around rapidly, he was so excited by the design he even clicked on the ads, if everyone did that our views and revenue should have tripled by now.
Boss: Well we got to do something, any ideas?
Middle management #1: Hmmm... well I heard there is something call 'social media', I haven't looked at it yet but it looks like people love sharing things on it, maybe we can use that?
Middle management #2: Yeah I heard about that too, my daughter said she uses it to share elmo photos.
Middle management #3: Oh I got an idea! Let's put a bunch of social media share link on the site!
Middle management #1: Sounds good to me, but if everyone is already doing it we need to do something a little different.
Middle management #2: How about... Oh I know, let's remove the most useful and popular 'read more' link, and replace it with a bunch of share links. I swear the users are so fucking stupid they won't be able to tell the difference.
Middle management #3: Yeah! Those geeks, they don't know much about computers, they are just going to click on the same place over and over again, and come back for more!
Boss: Geek site for retards? That is fucking brilliant! Let's do it!
nt
Most users will never receive the fix since carriers must approve them.
Am I misunderstanding, that this "hack" requires, not only that the attacker be on the local subnet(Wifi), but that the user must also initiate an update. SO, it really is a highly unlikely attack.
But, insanely, Samsung's statement, linked above, recommends that people change their phone's settings to automatically accept updates! This makes your vulnerability FAR greater in my opinion. It opens you up to not only this attack, but future ones as well.
Am I misunderstanding this, or is this a WTF moment?