Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday January 26 2020, @06:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-not-to-do dept.

What Jeff Bezos Can Teach You About Smartphone Security:

Jeff Bezos might be (much) wealthier than you, but he's not smarter than you—at least, not when it comes to basic smartphone security. As you probably read and laughed at (and then sighed at, after you looked up how much Bezos makes each minute), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently sent Bezos a video file via WhatsApp. This file actually "contained malware that penetrated Bezos's mobile phone and exfiltrated a large amount of data within hours," describes The Guardian.

[...] As The New York Times notes, it's not even clear whether Bezos opened the video file (and malware) himself, or whether the simple act of receiving it was enough to exploit a vulnerability in WhatsApp. In other words, the simple act of receiving malicious code, buried in an innocent piece of content, is enough. You could do everything you can to not engage with it, but it might not even matter—unless you avoid the message entirely, which is contrary to the point of a messaging app.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Monday January 27 2020, @02:16AM (1 child)

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 27 2020, @02:16AM (#949113) Journal

    I do the dishes too but I don't have to

    It's the difference between a slave and a free man, between being married and being single...

    ...ducks...

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:46PM (#950167)

    you're right, it's much easier to do it before she gets mad.