Motorola Solves Android ‘StageFright’ Issue; Cheaper Android Users At Risk Of Not Getting A Fix?

Mobile phone giant Motorola has finally issued a fix for the "StageFright" MMS messaging problem for its handsets running on Android OS.

In its official statement, Motorola explained that "StageFright" "is responsible for unpacking and playing the multimedia message." The company claimed that it has never known of any incidents involving someone who is trying to "to take advantage of this possibility to harm Android phone owners."

"Depending on a phone's messaging settings, this could take place before the phone owner opens the message or views the video," the statement read.

"There is a possibility that a hacker could insert malware in the video. It could then be processed and access the phone without giving the owner a chance to evaluate the video attachment."

Having been informed of the problem, Motorola made sure that they are closely working with Google to fix the "StageFright" issue among Android phones.

Motorola's new phones like Moto X Style, Moto X Play, and Moto G (3rd Gen) shall already have the patches integrated into their system.

Meanwhile, the earlier variants such as the Moto X Style (patched from launch), Moto X Play (patched from launch), Moto X (1st Gen, 2nd Gen), Moto X Pro, Moto Maxx/Turbo, Moto G (1st Gen, 2nd Gen, 3rd Gen), Moto G with 4G LTE (1st Gen, 2nd Gen), Moto E (1st Gen, 2nd Gen), Moto E with 4G LTE (2nd Gen), DROID Turbo and DROID Ultra/Mini/Maxx will receive a security patch through the company's partner telcos.

"After Google informed us in late June, we've been working to integrate, test and deploy the security patches into all future products and software updates," the company said.

"We are also working with Google and our carrier partners to simplify the process of deploying critical security updates in the future."

In other news, ethical hacker and director of security firm Whitehack Adrian Wood shared with CyberShack that those who own smartphones using cheaper Android OS are the most at risk of not getting a "StageFright" fix.

"If you're a person who's not buying the flagship model of a phone, you can be in a really tricky situation because the support period for Android's operating system is quite short, especially compared to Apple," he said.

"You could not go to the store and buy a brand new iPhone that's out of the support period."

What the Motorola Android phone users could be hoping and praying for now would be for the company to include all of their customers, even those who have more affordable OS, in their effort to fix the "StageFright" issue.

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