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Major Galaxy S III vulnerability patched by Samsung, update now available

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:37PM EST
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Samsung (005930) on Wednesday confirmed it has issued an update that fixes a major security flaw in its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone.  The vulnerability, which was uncovered earlier this week, allowed a simple script included in the code on any webpage to remotely wipe the Galaxy S III, erasing all of its data and restoring it to factory settings. “We would like to assure our customers that the recent security issue concerning the Galaxy S III has already been resolved through a software update,” a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement given to Engadget. “We recommend all Galaxy S III customers download the latest software update, which can be done quickly and easily via the Over-The-Air (OTA) service.” The security hole still affects other smartphones that include Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface and service layer, and reports suggest other Android smartphones may be vulnerable to the hack as well.

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