95 percent of Android phones vulnerable to Stagefright remote MMS exploit

Researchers at security firm Zimperium identified a bug (really, a series of bugs) that puts some 950 million Android phones at risk of hacking, called it "the mother of all Android vulnerabilities." If you are an Android user, the chances that your phone is vulnerable are about 95 percent. No one has exploited the vulnerability and actually hacked someone's phone -- at least, not yet. The security firm shared the information with Google back in April, along with a suggested patch. Hackers could take advantage of it by sending you a multimedia message (MMS) containing malware. Once received, it would give them complete control over the handset and allow them to steal anything on it, such as credit card numbers or personal information.

The key to protecting your phone is to turn off automatic retrieval of multimedia messages. Open your default text messaging app, go to its settings and find the option for auto-retrieving MMS/multimedia messages. Uncheck that box, don't choose to retrieve or open multimedia messages from numbers you don't know, and you should be fairly safe.