Researchers from security company Check Point just announced at the recent DEF CON 24 hacking convention that they had discovered a group of four vulnerabilities affecting all Android devices using Qualcomm chipsets.  The group of four vulnerabilities is being called QuadRooter.  A hacker can take control of an affected smartphone and gain access to all data found on the smartphone by exploiting any one of the four vulnerabilities.  The long list of smartphones affected by this vulnerability include the Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Google Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P and many more.  The vulnerabilities are exploited through the downloading of a malicious app.  This is a serious problem although Google is saying it has patched three of the four problems in its August security updates.

TIPS

The first thing to do if you have a smartphone that uses the Android operating system is to to use the free QuadRooter scanner app which can be found on Google Play in order to find out if your smartphone is affected.  Here is a link to the app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.checkpoint.quadrooter

Also, whenever a security update for your smartphone becomes available, make sure you download it immediately.   Because so much smartphone hacking comes, as in this instance, from malicious apps, only download apps from legitimate sources, such as Google Play.  Also, always read the permission requests when before downloading any app and be on the lookout for permissions that appear to be unusual or unnecessary.