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Google security researchers have revealed this week that the immensely popular Fortnite Android app is vulnerable to so-called man-in-the-disk (MitD) attacks. This vulnerability allows low-privileged malicious apps already installed on a users' phone to hijack the Fortnite app's installation process and install other malicious apps that have a higher permissions level. Epic Games, the Fortnite game developer, has released version 2.1.0 that patches this attack vector. The concept of man-in-the-disk attacks has been recently detailed in more depth by security researchers from Israel-based cyber-security firm Check Point. In a simplified explanation, MitD attacks are possible when an Android app stores data on External Storage mediums, outside its highly-secured Internal Storage space. An attacker can watch a specific app's External Storage space and tamper with the data stored in this storage space because this space is shared by all apps. The Fortnite app is vulnerable to this attack because the app does not contain the actual game, but is merely an installer. Once users install the app, this installer uses the device's External Storage space to download and install the actual game. "Any app with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can substitute the APK immediately after the download is completed and the fingerprint is verified. "Any app with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can substitute the APK immediately after the download is completed and the fingerprint is verified. This is easily done using a FileObserver. The Fortnite Installer will proceed to install the substituted (fake) APK," a Google researcher wrote in a bug report recently made public.Complete details are posted on OUR FORUM.

Millions of mobile devices from eleven smartphone vendors are vulnerable to attacks carried out using AT commands, a team of security researchers has discovered. AT (ATtention) commands or the Hayes command set, is a collection of short-string commands developed in the early 1980s that were designed to be transmitted via phone lines and control modems. Different AT command strings can be merged together to tell a modem to dial, hang up, or change connection parameters. Unknown to the common user is that modern smartphones include a basic modem component inside them, which allows the smartphone to connect to the Internet via its telephony function, and more. While international telecommunications bodies have standardized basic AT commands, dictating a list that all smartphones must support, vendors have also added custom AT command sets to their own devices —commands which can control some pretty dangerous phone features such as the touchscreen interface, the device's camera, and more. In massive and groundbreaking research, a team of eleven scientists from the University of Florida, Stony Brook University, and Samsung Research America, have looked into what types of AT commands are currently supported on modern Android devices. The research team analyzed over 2,000 Android firmware images from eleven Android OEMs such as ASUS, Google, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, LineageOS, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and ZTE. They say they discovered that these devices support over 3,500 different types of AT commands, some of which grant access to very dangerous functions. Videos and more are posted on OUR FORUM.

T-Mobile USA announced a security breach late last night. The company says its cyber-security team discovered and shut down unauthorized access to its customers' data on Monday, August 20. The telco says an attacker was exfiltrating personal data such as customer names, billing ZIP codes, phone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, and account types (prepaid or postpaid). T-Mobile said the hacker (or hackers) did not gain access to passwords, social security numbers, or any financial information. Impacted customers will receive an SMS, letter in the mail, or a phone call to notify them. The US telco says it informed law enforcement authorities about the breach. A T-Mobile spokesperson told Motherboard that less than 3% of its customer base was affected. T-Mobile reported 75.62 million customers at the end of Q2 2018. That would put the breach at around 3.9 million customers, still, a considerable number. As some T-Mobile users have pointed out, even if the hackers did not get their hands on any financial data or passwords, the breach makes it easier for the attacker to port  (SIM swap) numbers. More details posted on OUR FORUM.