We have become relatively accustomed to the appearance of errors in the technological world that in some way endanger our data, although, nevertheless, in most cases being up-to-date is more than enough to be protected. To everyone’s surprise, this time we are facing a security failure that affects the Android landscape and also the iPhone.
A security hole has been detected that cybercriminals may have been using to extract information without our knowledge. An attack that affects millions of apps around the world and among which it is very easy that we have them on the phone or even that we have had them at some point.
Unprecedented problem
On December 10, the New Zealand Government emergency team raised the alarm about what was happening and that is that the libraries with files from various apps and servers were being used freely without any control. A gateway that was not located within the possibilities of cybercriminals and on which there would be no extra protection patch against a threat of this type.
With the vulnerability code CVE-2021-44228 and the name Log4j Shell, this hole may have allowed attackers to reach the data of popular services such as Minecraft, Amazon, Twitter and Cloudflare or Microsoft‘s Mojang that we can all have on mobile. . Before long, the Alibaba Cloud cybersecurity team has already warned about the situation, initiating changes in the systems so that this problem does not escalate and implementing patches that do not bring the problem to user data and their smartphones.
What can happen to my mobile?
Although this may seem somewhat too technical and has nothing to do with us, it is possible that our registration data or information used in mobile apps and in some of the aforementioned services is affected or in unknown hands. Being able to get to know more about us than the bank or even controlling what we do with the mobile. But in addition to those services that are already working on reforms, there are many other applications in the application stores that are based on the same Log4j system and that, if they are not updated, will reveal even more data.
The developers of all the apps present on our mobile should act quickly and we implement all the updates to the services that we have downloaded from Google Play or the App Store if we do not want the problem on the smartphone to become greater . This is basically the only thing we can do, as well as uninstall those apps that we may have on our mobile. Since we do not even use one of the best recommendations to protect the mobile, eliminating more entry holes to the smartphone.
At the moment it is not known what level of damage it will reach, while the programming teams work around the clock to solve the situation and keep our data safe. In the same way, Google and Apple are also aware and it is not surprising that all their services are already protected or are doing so at the moment, as well as internally all the services to which they accommodate.