How to protect yourself from the dangerous threat that stalks all Android phones

The Android operating system is not free from controversy. In case users weren't enough with Android scams, a new vulnerability has just revealed how unprotected mobiles and tablets with Google's operating system are from threats. Apparently, a simple MMS message with malicious code is capable of putting an Android device completely under the control of another person. This security flaw has been baptized with the name of Stagefright, and this time we are going to explain how to protect you from the dangerous threat that stalks all Android phones.

In short, the procedure to avoid this threat goes through something as simple as deactivating the automatic download of the attachments of MMS messages. This option is enabled by default on most devices with Android operating system, and that is the reason why hundreds of thousands of terminals are exposed to this same threat. To avoid scares, the steps we must follow on our mobile or tablet to protect ourselves from Stagefright are the following:

1. We enter the default Messages application on our smartphone or tablet with Android operating system (regardless of the version we have; except for Android 2.2 (or lower), all versions of Android are affected by the Stagefright threat).
2. Once inside, we look for the menu section (normally it is represented with an icon with three dots, although it depends on our operating system) and click on it to display the options.
3. Next, click on the " Settings " option.
4. Now, the only thing left to do is look for the category of " Multimedia messages (MMS) ", where we should see an option with the name of " AutoRecover - Recover messages automatically ". We have to deactivate this option of “Auto-recover”.

The procedure to follow to protect ourselves from this vulnerability is the same even if we use applications other than the default Android message application. For example, in the case of Hangouts, the option that we have to deactivate responds to the name of " Retrieve MMS messages ".

In any case, it is only a matter of time before the Android operating system solves by default - through an update - the threat that affects the integrity of mobile phones and tablets around the world. Even non-Google groups such as CyanogenMod have already announced that they have corrected the Stagefright vulnerability, and its users will receive an update with the solution to the problem in the coming weeks.