Google Adds New Pixel Security Features to Block 2G Exploits and Baseband Attacks
Oct 03, 2024
Mobile Security / Technology
Google has revealed the various security guardrails that have been incorporated into its latest Pixel devices to counter the rising threat posed by baseband security attacks. The cellular baseband (i.e., modem) refers to a processor on the device that's responsible for handling all connectivity, such as LTE, 4G, and 5G, with a mobile phone cell tower or base station over a radio interface. "This function inherently involves processing external inputs, which may originate from untrusted sources," Sherk Chung and Stephan Chen from the Pixel team, and Roger Piqueras Jover and Ivan Lozano from the company's Android team said in a blog post shared with The Hacker News. "For instance, malicious actors can employ false base stations to inject fabricated or manipulated network packets. In certain protocols like IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), this can be executed remotely from any global location using an IMS client." What's more, the firmware powering the...
