![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762650916_704_960x0.jpg\")
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Is your phone now at risk?<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sometimes timing really is everything. Within just a few days, we have had confirmation of the spyware attack on Samsung phones that triggered an emergency update earlier this year, and a warning that some of those patched phones will get no more updates.<\/p>\n
The spyware confirmation came courtesy of Palo Alto Networks Unit 42<\/a>. \u201cA previously unknown Android spyware family, which we have named LANDFALL.\u201d This attack exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Samsung\u2019s Android image processing library\u201d using \u201cmalicious image files that appear to have been sent via WhatsApp.\u201d<\/p>\n ForbesMicrosoft\u2019s Free Windows Update\u2014You Have 48 Hours To ActBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Unit 42 says \u201cCVE-2025-21042, is not an isolated case but rather part of a broader pattern of similar issues found on multiple mobile platforms.\u201d It was patched by Samsung in April, albeit \u201cthe exploit itself \u2014 and the commercial-grade spyware used with it \u2014 have not yet been publicly reported and analyzed.\u201d<\/p>\n We have seen increased spyware attacks on Android in the last year, driving multiple zero-day warnings and emergency updates<\/a>. Fortunately, because \u201cthe vulnerability has been patched since April 2025, there is no ongoing risk to current Samsung users.\u201d<\/p>\n That assumes all Samsung phones receive security updates. They do not. There are a billion Android devices<\/a> no longer receiving security updates \u2014 plenty are Samsungs. All those devices are at risk from any vulnerability exploited after their security updates end. And on this, Samsung has just confirmed bad news for millions of Galaxy users.<\/p>\n \u201cNovember turns out to be a disappointing month for the owners of five Samsung phones,\u201d SammyFans<\/a> says, which \u201cwill no longer receive new software updates.\u201d<\/p>\n ForbesYes, Google Warns All Gmail Users To Stop Using Passwords\u2014Act NowBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Those phones are \u201cthe Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S20 FE 5G.\u201d which have been \u201ccompletely removed\u201d from the list of phones eligible for updates, along with the Galaxy M22, Galaxy M52 5G and W22 5G. The new schedule of which devices are eligible for updates and on what frequency is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re one of the millions still using one of those phones, it\u2019s time for a rethink. There will more LANDFALL-type attacks to come. In all seriousness, if your phone is no longer eligible for updates, you really do need to upgrade to something that is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is your phone now at risk? AFP via Getty Images Sometimes timing really is everything. Within just a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[18,19,17,45406,45405,82410,97551,97552,97549,35541,97550,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-170658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-samsung-android-16","12":"tag-samsung-one-ui-8","13":"tag-samsung-one-ui-8-5","14":"tag-samsung-s26","15":"tag-samsung-s27","16":"tag-samsung-security-update","17":"tag-samsung-update","18":"tag-samsung-upgrade","19":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115517097464219616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}