Using Android? Experts Say Your Phone Could be Hacked with Just One Text

Expert from the mobile security firm Zimperium warned Android users about a flaw in the operating system, which could expose their phones to hackers and provide easy access to the phone, NPR reported.

According to the experts, all it takes for hackers to break into someone's phone is the phone number. Then an attachment or download file would be sent to the phone via text. If such files are opened or downloaded, the corrupt file sent by the hackers would "invade" the phone and start working its magic!

Joshua Drake from Zimperium, who also co-authored "Android Hacker's Handbook," said: "This happens even before the sound that you have received a message has even occurred. That's what makes it so dangerous. It could be absolutely silent. You may not even see anything," NPR reported.

Drake noted that the risk of such hacking is higher when malicious files are sent via Android's instant messaging app called Hangouts, which immediately starts downloading videos and files in order to save time for the user and have the content ready to view immediately. On the other hand, Drake believes that the phone's regular messaging app is "a tiny bit less dangerous."

If the hackers succeed in breaking into someone's phone, they would be capable of doing anything, including controlling your camera and microphone to keep track of what you say or do, and copy or delete data from your phone. "It is really up to their imagination what they do once they get in," Drake said.

Currently around 80 percent of the smartphones worldwide use Android as their mobile operating system, which may put millions of users around the globe at risk. However NPR reports that Drake, who spotted the vulnerability of the operating system while working in his lab, believes that hackers have not started to take advantage of it yet.