Can your Android phone be hacked?

Clark.com Staff | April 24th, 2019

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Flaws, glitches and bugs are all common pesks for technology users who love their smartphones and other devices. But if you’re looking to buy an Android phone you may want to know the likelihood of it being hacked.

Yes, both Android phones and iPhones can be hacked and it’s happening with alarming frequency. A few years ago, a text message security flaw called “Stagefright” was found in Android phones that put 95% of users at risk.

Can someone hack your Android phone?

What made Stagefright so scary was that an Android user didn’t even have to open a message. It could be hacked with a simple text!

The bug did its damage by capitalizing on the way Androids analyze incoming messages (called auto-fetching) with media files —text messages that include audio, video or pictures — and allowed the phone to potentially be infected before you even opened the message.

After a number of months, Google finally introduced a Stagefright fix, but it came after many users had been affected.

So, while your Android phone can likely no longer be hacked with a simple text, you still need to stay vigilante.

The best way to protect your Android phone from hackers is to be proactive.

Make it harder for your device to be exploited

Here are two basic ways you can keep your Android phone from being hacked:

1. Update your device: Keep your Android phone as current as possible by updating it when a new version of the operating system becomes available. The reason why these updates are released is because the devices need them to stay protected.

2. Be careful using public Wi-Fi: Money expert Clark Howard has a rule that we all would do well to adopt: “Unless I’m at home or work, where I think I can trust the Wi-Fi, I operate off my own hotspot so that I’m not putting myself in the position where I might be exposed and vulnerable.”