Samsung reports Stagefright and other security info on mobile devices

Samsung has started to list additional security information for mobile devices on its website. The manufacturer will specify until when a device will receive software support and whether the device has been updated for the Stagefright bugs.

Samsung will show the information on the product page of every single device released in the last two years. The notification indicates which current Android version is available for the smartphone and for how long the software will be supported. In addition, it mentions whether the smartphone has been updated for Stagefright 1.0 and 2.0. If the phone has not received a security update, the website will indicate if and when that will happen.

With the adjustment, Samsung is responding to the growing attention for the security of telephones. This concern was significantly increased in 2015 due to the well-known Stagefright bugs in Android. Stagefright 1.0 was a method to hack a phone by sending a malicious link via the standard MMS application. The successor to this bug was Stagefright 2.0. This variant made Android smartphones vulnerable to attack by malicious parties via mp3 and mp4 files.