You might recall that last year a handset by the name of the Blackphone was launched. Unlike other OEMs, the creators of the Blackphone focused mainly on its security and encryption features in a bid to create a phone that would be the ultimate privacy device, safe from the prying eyes of the government and hackers.
Unfortunately it looks like even one of the most secure phones in the world is prone to bugs. It seems that a bug was discovered in the Blackphone that basically allowed hackers to decrypt messages, steal contacts, and control vital functions of the phone, which more or less rendered the entire phone’s concept moot.
The bug was discovered by Mark Dowd who is a consultant with Australia-based Azimuth Security. According to Dowd, all the attacker needs is the user’s Silent Circle ID or phone number to remotely exploit the bug. Thankfully the creators of the Blackphone and the security company they partnered with, Silent Circle, have since plugged the vulnerability after it was reported to them.
That being said, this just goes to show how even the most secure devices are vulnerable to bugs that would let attackers in. So far it does not seem like there are any cases where attackers have taken advantage of the bug, but hopefully the developers will keep a closer eye on it in the future.
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