US government urges federal employees to update Samsung Galaxy smartphones due to serious vulnerabilities

The US government has issued an emergency notice to all federal employees using Samsung Galaxy phones. The directive, effective immediately, states that employees must update their devices by 28 August. Otherwise, their phones will be disabled for work-related tasks.

Here's What We Know

The decision follows similar measures in July, when users of Google Pixel phones were also required to update their systems. The reason for such actions were two serious vulnerabilities in the software, identified as CVE-2024-32896 and CVE-2024-29745.

These vulnerabilities were discovered by Google's cybersecurity team and were actively exploited by attackers. The issues can lead to increased device control, allowing attackers to access sensitive data such as work files, emails and financial information.

The US Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added these vulnerabilities to its list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs), highlighting the high threat level. The government requires federal employees to update their smartphones within 21 days to minimise the risks.

Source: Gizchina