Own an Android phone? Beware, Your Android smartphones can be hacked by just a malformed text message.
Security researchers have found that 95% of Android devices running version 2.2 to 5.1 of operating system, which includes Lollipop and KitKat, are vulnerable to a security bug, affecting more than 950 Million Android smartphones and tablets.
Almost all Android smart devices available today are open to attack that could allow hackers to access the vulnerable device without the owners being aware of it, according to Joshua Drake, vice president of platform research and exploitation at security firm Zimperium.
The vulnerability actually resides in a core Android component called "Stagefright," a multimedia playback library used by Android to process, record and play multimedia files such as PDFs.

A Text Message Received...Your Game is Over
The sad news for most of the Android users is that the fix will not help Millions of Android users that owned older versions of the operating system that Google no longer supports, opening doors for hackers to perform Stagefright attack.
Drake has developed and published a scary exploit that uses a specially crafted text message using the multimedia message (MMS) format.

All a hacker needs is the phone number of the victim’s Android device. The hacker could then sends the malicious message that will surreptitiously execute malicious code on the vulnerable device with no end user action, no indication, nothing required.

When will I expect a Fix?
Google has patched the code and sent it to device manufacturers, but devices require over-the-air updates from companies such as Samsung or Motorola to update their customers' phones.

Given the shaky history of handset manufacturers and carriers rolling out security patches, it is not known how long the companies will take to update vulnerable Android devices against Stagefright attack.



HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PHONE
Instruction for Messages app

Open the Messages app and click on the three dots icon in the upper-right corner.
Click on Settings in the dropdown menu.
Click on Multimedia messages.
Uncheck Auto retrieve.

Instruction for Google Hangouts app

Open the Google Hangouts app and click on the three lines in the upper-left corner.
Click on Settings.
Click on SMS.
Scroll down to Advanced and uncheck Auto retrieve MMS.

Instruction for Messenger app

Open the Messenger app and click on the three dots in the upper-right corner.
Click on Settings in the dropdown menu.
Click on Advanced.
Uncheck Auto retrieve.

Instruction for Messaging app

Open the Messaging app and click on the three dots in the lower-right corner.
Click on Settings.
Scroll down to Multimedia (MMS) messages and uncheck Auto retrieve MMS.


WhatsApp

Open WhatsApp and click on the three dots in the upper right hand corner.
Click on Settings.
Click on Chat Settings.
Click Media auto-download.
Click When using mobile data and/or When connected on Wi-Fi.
The When connected on Wi-Fi settings are automatically set to download videos, so it is important to uncheck the checkmark.
The When connected on mobile data settings are NOT automatically set to download videos, but in case you did enable it, you should disable it.
http://thehackernews.com/2015/07/android-phone-hacking.html
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