Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Samsung Left Millions Vulnerable To Hackers Because It Forgot To Renew a Domain (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the security-woes dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Samsung cellphones used to have a stock app called S Suggest. The company apparently discontinued the app recently, and then forgot to renew a domain that was used to control it. This snafu left millions of smartphone users vulnerable to hackers who could've registered the domain and installed malicious apps on the phones.

2 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. what happens if a company goes under by redback · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What would have happened with something like this if a company goes under?

    We almost need a charity foundation of some sort to maintain domains like this in that situation.

  2. Why did they even need a separate domain for this? by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You'd think they could have instead used "ssuggest.samsung.com" or similar, rather than registering an entirely separate domain for what is essentially a minor feature on a phone.

    The nice thing about DNS is that it was designed PRECISELY TO BE USED THIS WAY, being able to establish a hierarchy so that an entity can organize all their hostnames/services in one hierarchy.