Millions of Samsung Galaxy owners are being urged to switch off a WiFi setting as it could leave them vulnerable to hackers.
Google's security team at Project Zero has warned that it's not a threat that should be ignored as hackers may be able to attack devices remotely so long as they have your number. The experts are urging device owners to switch off Wi-Fi calling and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) in their device settings.
As reported by the Mirror, Samsung is aware of the bug and is working on a fix but hasn't yet pushed out an update to stop attackers in their tracks..
As Project Zero's Tim Willis explains: "Tests conducted by Project Zero confirm that those four vulnerabilities allow an attacker to remotely compromise a phone at the baseband level with no user interaction, and require only that the attacker know the victim's phone number.
"With limited additional research and development, we believe that skilled attackers would be able to quickly create an operational exploit to compromise affected devices silently and remotely."
How to turn off Wi-Fi calling
- Find "Settings"
- Press the phone icon.
- Press the menu icon.
- Press Settings.
- Press the indicator next to "WiFi Calling" to turn the function on or off.
- Press the Home key to return to the home screen.
Affected Samsung phones
It appears that the threat only targets phones that use Samsung's own Exynos processor and not devices powered by Qualcomm. Most Galaxy devices launched in the UK before this year used the Exynos chip, including the Galaxy S22, Galaxy M33 and Galaxy M12.
If you own one of these phones then head to the settings and switch off Wi-Fi calling as soon as possible.
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