Time may tell if your older Galaxy device will get it, too
Although most modern-day Android phones are equipped with safeguards to avoid dangerous malware and spyware, newer and evolved attack forms such as what are known as zero-clicks have become increasingly prominent and potent. This is primarily due to the ease at which they can be deployed, including through standard JPG or PNG image files wherein the user doesn’t need to interact with a file or its corresponding app to infect the device. Samsung is now coming up with its own method to block zero-click attacks called Message Guard and it’s coming first to the recently unveiled Galaxy S23 series.
Samsung says Message Guard is active on both Samsung Messages and the Messages by Google app, but will expand to cover more third-party messaging apps in the future. As Samsung notes in its news release, the company’s proprietary Knox security platform already protects Galaxy devices from malware hidden within audio or video files. Message Guard acts as an additional safeguard against malicious code submersed within most commonly used image formats.
Explaining how Message Guard works, Samsung claims a freshly received image is put into an “advanced sandbox,” effectively cutting it out from the device’s file system. This file is then analyzed within this sandbox for any malware before it is accessed by the receiver. Message Guard will keep an eye out for sneaky strings in PNG, JPG/JPEG, GIF, ICO, WEBP, BMP, and WBMP file formats.
It’s unclear when this feature will make its way to other Galaxy devices, though Samsung says it will bring Message Guard to older Galaxy phones and tablets “later this year,” provided they’re running One UI 5.1 or above (via Engadget).
Zero-clicks will only become more prevalent with time, so we’re hoping to see this kind of measure come from other manufacturers if it can’t be integrated directly into Android — Samsung is, after all, one of the largest contributors to the Android Open Source Project.
