By Staff Writer (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Jul 28, 2015 07:16 AM EDT

Android users may be hacked with just a single text message. A security firm shared that the risk may be affecting almost 1 billion people around the world.

Forbes wrote that there are six serious vulnerabilities that pose a hacking threat to 95 percent of Google Android phones. Users may be attacked by a mere multimedia text, according to a mobile security expert Joshua Drake of Zimperium Labs.

Drake reported that problems in April 2015. Although Google provided patches to its partners, many manufacturers have not yet made and offered fixes to protect users. Drake said that all devices must be assumed to be vulnerable. As many as 950 million Android phones may be affected, considering that there are over 1 billion Android units currently in use around the globe. Android devices running below version 2.2, however, are unaffected.

The vulnerabilities are reportedly found in Stagefright, a media playback tool in Android. These are all “remote code execution” bugs, which means that malicious hackers can enter devices and manage private data. By simply using mobile phone numbers, hackers can steal and manipulate data from portions of the phone that can be accessed with Stagefright’s permissions. Bluetooth, photos in SD cards and videos can also be hacked using Stagefright.

Before, there were means of removing the threat before the user opens a text message. Depending on the MMS application being used, the user might not even know whether he received a message. According to Drake, when the exploit code was activated in Google Hangouts, the code would immediately trigger even before users can look at their phone or receive a notification. The message may be deleted before the user gets an alert. As a result, attacks are completely quiet and successful, based on the same Forbes report.

Drake has provided reports and patches to Google, which were accepted and set to be deployed in the coming weeks.

Google acknowledge the flaw in a statement to CNN Money. Google assured users that Android has a number of methods to limit access to hackers to various phone apps and functions. Google recently prioritized its own Nexus phones to receive updates first.

Chris Wysopal, a former hacker and current executive at cybersecurity firm Veracode, said that it is interesting to determine whether Google can create a way to update devices remotely. Otherwise, the current threat posed on Android phones may lead to huge and expensive ramifications.

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