Data wiped clean: Samsung adds security patch to Galaxy S III

Last weekend, hackers at Ekoparty 2012 hacking event revealed that Samsung smartphones could be reset to factory settings and all data wiped by just sending a malicious web-link to the user.

According to this report, Malicious hackers can hide a code in a Web page that will trigger a full factory reset. The code, now circulating freely online and comprising just 11 digits and symbols, was revealed at a computer security conference in Argentina.

When users click on the link, hackers get access to the smartphone, and all user data ranging from contacts to photos will get deleted. This flaw is of course deeply embarrassing for Samsung which has touted the Galaxy S III as the next big thing, and even claims that its smartphone is a shade better than the iPhone 5.

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Now it seems that Samsung is providing a software patch to fix the problem with the smartphone. According to the Register, the TouchWiz phone dialling application, it seems, was responsible. The software responds to phone numbers delivered in a URL in the same way as those entered manually, allowing special codes to be entered and executed from a web link picked up by wireless NFC, embedded in a web page or read off a QR code.

[caption id=“attachment_470280” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Samsung Galaxy S III has a security bug. Reuters[/caption]

However The Verge is cautioning users of other smartphones such as Motorola and HTC might also be at risk. It seems that problem also exists on other Samsung devices and depends on the firmware you’re using.

The Verge report states that the problem appears to be in the Android dialer which links phone numbers to websites thus allowing users to make calls directly from a link. The report also says that the problem was fixed sometime back, but again it depends on whether your smartphone has access to the update or not

According to Android Central, there’s still a lot of confusion over the vulnerability. They write that _it’s impossible to use this exploit on a phone that’s not running Samsung’s TouchWiz software,_but are again cautioning that this could be exploited on other Android smartphones.

Android Central have also devised a simple test for users to determine if their Samsung smartphones are vulnerable. You can check it out on the site.We will keep you updated on this as more information is revealed.