Smartphone devices are the most popular device in the world. Over 1.30 billion smartphones are shipped and sold every year and a further 1.32 billion users use the Android OS, but there is a catch. Like most computer devices smartphones can be easily hacked and hackers are getting smarter and smarter everyday. This one hack targets young people in particular, due to their curious and rebellious nature.
Android smartphones have a feature that enables users to do extraordinary and unusual things with their smartphones. It is called ‘Developer Mode’. Have you ever wanted to get the latest app for free or download an awesome third-party theme for your android? If you said yes, then you’re probably the sort of person to go and ‘root’ their phone. ‘Rooting’ is the widely used method of ‘unlocking’ a smartphone device, to be able to alter boot images and android software, but to do this you have to enable ‘developer mode’ on your smartphone.
Developer mode is an extraordinary tool that enables users to install ‘rooted’ android images onto their phone, but it comes with a cost. Developer mode is also used in a legal & legitimate way when developing android apps. Developers are able to plug their android phone into their device to test apps, but the same goes with an attacker.
If an android phone is plugged into a computer or other device, attackers, through the command line, are able to use developer tools, such as ADB or Android Debug Bridge, to infiltrate your android device and retrieve sensitive data. Through the command line they are also able to reset, restart, shutdown or backup your device to their local computer and use this information to either sell to darkweb users or use as leverage for ransom.
At Brace168 we have an MDR service that will ensure that any activity executed on your android phone is logged and alerted on.
