In a blog post the developers of Bitcoin have announced the discovery of a critical weakness in Android that leaves Bitcoin wallets subject to theft. The vulnerability affects every Bitcoin wallet app for Android, including popular options like Bitcoin Wallet, blockchain.info wallet, BitcoinSpinner and Mycelium Wallet.
Bitcoin developers say critical Android flaw leaves digital wallets vulnerable to theft
The developers say that the vulnerability lies in Android’s ability to generate secure strings of random numbers, which help keep your Bitcoins safe. Exchange front-end services like Mt. Gox and Coinbase are unaffected, since their private keys are not generated on-device. The developers strongly urge anyone who has generated a wallet using an Android app to generate a new address with a proven reliable random number generator, and to then send all the money in your wallet back to yourself.
In the meantime, a thread on BitcoinTalk.org seems to indicate that updates for the affected apps are already in the works.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Most Popular
Most Popular
- The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border
- Apple is banking on privacy to set its smart glasses apart
- Meta is royally screwing up its smart glasses rollout
- Marvel announces Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider, a new Black Panther, and more
- This is my new favorite laptop, but thanks to RAMageddon it already went up in price by $800
