The most secure Android phone, hacked in 5 minutes

What was supposed to be the world's most secure Android phone got rooted in just five minutes.

 

Blackphone, the security-oriented smartphone, had vulnerabilities that were discovered by hacker @TeamAndIRC, one of which has already been patched.

 

"According to @TeamAndIRC there were three issues discovered. The first one is that he was able to get ADB turned on. Turning ADB on is not a vulnerability as this is part of the Android operating system. We turned ADB off because it causes a software bug and potentially impacts the user experience, a patch is forthcoming. His second discovery is accurate and here is the point I want to stress to the community. We found this vulnerability on July 30, had the patch in QA on July 31, and the OTA update released on August 1. That is pretty fast, no?" SGP Technologies chief security officer Dan Ford said.

 

He added that when @TeamAndIRC details the third vulnerability, Team Blackphone will get the details and develop a patch.

 

"That is our commitment to the community – to close the threat window faster than any other OEM. So, for now stay tuned as we will have an update later today," he said.

 

Earlier, a report on tech site N4BB.com noted the Blackphone's bootloader did not need to be unlocked for Android debugging bridge to be enabled.

 

"(T)his only further proves you cannot add layers of security on top of an underlying platform with security vulnerabilities," it said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News