In the week since WannaCry hijacked hundreds of thousands ofcomputers in 150 countries, we’ve been asked if Android devices are vulnerable. The answer is no, for a simple reason: WannaCry targetsWindows.
But don’t be lulled into comfort by that. SophosLabs researcher Rowland Yu said Android is a huge ransomware target. WannaCry’s payload was merely one stripe of countless ransomware varieties. Yu explained:
A big difference between Windows and Android is that the foundation of Android is Linux kernel. Moreover, Android has removed unnecessary and potentially insecure parts of the kernel. WannaCry exploited a Windows vulnerability Microsoft had released a patch for in March. That flaw was in the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) service, which Windows computers use to share files and printers across local networks. The SMB function isn’t built into Android.Furthermore, he said, WannaCry uses an NSA EternalBlue exploit and DoublePulsar backdoor to silently install and...(continued)
