‘Gone in 55 seconds’: The time it took to hack Samsung Galaxy S22 – Times of India

Smartphones do claim to come with enhanced security tools and features that make them tough for hackers to breach the device. Be it Apple, Samsung, Oppo, or Google — all brands claim to make their devices secure to a great extent. No device, however, comes with foolproof security as hackers at an event showcased. Hackers got into a Samsung Galaxy S22 — one of Samsung’s flagship smartphones — in less than a minute. According to a report by Bleeping Computer, at the Pwn2Own event, a team of hackers breached Galaxy S22 in mere 55 seconds.

What is the Pwn2Own event?

Pwn2Own is a hacking contest that was held this year in Toronto. At this year’s event, a total of 36 contestants and teams — from 14 countries — participated to exploit 66 targets. The event was held between December 6 to December 8. Security research firm Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative runs the Pwn2Own event every year.

How did hackers breach the Galaxy S22?

According to the report, security researchers part of Pentest Limited planted a zero-day bug through an Improper Input Validation attack in the Samsung phone. In just 55 seconds, they were able to completely hack the device. The hack earned the security researchers $25,000. Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 was hacked over four days by different researchers at the event.
The report also mentions that no team had signed up to attempt to hack Apple iPhones or Google Pixel devices. Samsung wasn’t the only brand whose devices were hacked at the event. As per the report, hackers were successfully able to hack devices from Canon, Hp, Sonos, Netgear, Western Digital, and TP-Link among others.
At the event, the teams and contestants earned close to $9,90,000 from targeting devices from various brands.