BlackBerry Ltd Working On Fix To Combat FREAK Attack

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BlackBerry announced Thursday that it is in the process of updating some of its products to resolve the recently surfaced software glitch known as ‘FREAK.’ This software flaw allows hackers to get their hands on users’ private communications or launch a nasty cyber-attack.

BlackBerry working on a fix

BlackBerry spokeswoman Kim Geiger stated in an email on Thursday that BlackBerry is making efforts to update its affected products. Geiger added that along with running investigations, the company is also taking appropriate actions to safeguard its customers from the industry Open SSL vulnerability called FREAK.

In the meantime, BlackBerry is continuing with the investigation and working to find out the full impact of the issue and confirm the best approach for protecting customers. Some of the products that are prone to get infected include BlackBerry 10 OS (all versions), BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier (all versions), BES12 (all versions), BES10 (all versions) and so on.

As of now, the Canadian smartphone maker has not received any complaint regarding a FREAK attack due to the lack of security measures, which surfaced last week affecting mobile and desktop web browsers irrespective of the technology companies they belong to.

Other tech firms already out with a fix

Big tech names such as Apple and Microsoft have already pushed out software updates for its products to combat the bug. Google stated last week that its indigenous patch has been made available to device makers and mobile carriers that sell products using its Android platform.

Researchers came across the virus, which allows them to insert weaker encryption standards on browser users who land on specific websites. After the site was cracked down, researchers could crack the watered down encryption in mere hours. According to a report from The Washington Post last week, once a site is cracked, hackers could sneak in to get passwords and other personal information and can even take over the elements on a page, such as the Facebook “Like” button.

However, some security experts do not see FREAK as a major security issue, insisting that launching an attack using the vulnerability would not be that easy to execute. BlackBerry’s Geiger suggested that to implement such an attack on its platform, a hacker would have to “compromise a customer’s intranet” along with imposing the weaker browser encryption.

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