Lockscreen bypass bug in Samsung Galaxy S III was noted a while ago, but the company is yet to dish out an update to patch it. Meanwhile, Lookout has risen up to the task and presented a solution of its own which is quite effective and takes care of the security loophole.
The bug essentially allows a user to bypass the lockscreen altogether. This is done by cancelling an emergency call and then hitting the power button, which allows the user to instantly access the data on the smartphone.
Samsung has been promising that it will dish out an update soon, and one is still expected of it. However, the well-known Android security app, Lookout, has presented a solution of its own.
The app is fairly popular among Android users and is currently installed on some 30 million Android devices. It doesn’t exactly patch the security gap in the firmware on Galaxy S III. Rather, the fix from Lookout lets the app push the emergency call dialer to the front if the app detects that the user is trying to bypass the lockscreen by pushing it back.
Together with the release, Lookout also stated that, “An official device patch is expected from Samsung shortly, and we recommend that users update their devices as soon as the patch is released.”
Naturally, we have been waiting for this official patch from Samsung for quite some time now. The bug is present in a number of Samsung handsets, including Galaxy S III, Note II and Galaxy S III mini. The patch from Lookout resolves the problem on all of these handsets.
Source: Lookout
Courtesy: ZDNet
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Looks like the guys from Lookout know more about fixing bugs on Samsung gadgets than the people who work in Samsung.