For Snip.Today: New Study Shows Danger of Replacement Touchscreens
New study shows dangers of malicious replacement touchscreens
08/30/2017, 22:00 UTC , by Asia Martin
A recent study revealed that third party replacement parts could jeopardize the security of smartphones and user’s personal information. This news brings concern for consumers who turn to third party repair shops or order parts online from third party sellers.
Researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev conducted “attacks” on two Android devices, a Huawei Nexus 6P and an LG G Pad 7.0, to discover how they would stand up to malicious replacement parts. The study used a malicious chip that manipulated the communication between the phone’s hardware and software to embed into the touch screens.
The research showed a malicious replacement touch screen can allow an attacker to install apps, modify settings, snap photos of the user that could then be e-mailed to the attacker, change website URLs to those of phishing websites, and log touchscreen patterns. The researchers hope these insights “help in [the] development of techniques for design flaw mitigation and … efficient and secure design of hardware and software elements.
