Motorola announced that it will begin rolling out security updates for a number of its devices to protect users from hackers exploiting Android's Stagefright tool.
The company said the updates will first pass through its partner carriers before they are released to the public.
According to a post by Motorola on its website, the firmware update will arrive for all the generation of the Moto X, Moto G and Moto E devices. This includes the recently unveiled Moto X Play and Moto X Style, which is also known as the Moto X Pure Edition in the U.S. The company noted that these two models already have the security patch as a built-in feature when they were launched in July.
Aside from these models, Motorola will also release a security update for the Moto Maxx, Moto Turbo, Droid Turbo, Droid Ultra, Droid Mini and Droid Maxx variants.
The company explained that it has begun seeding the update to network carriers on August 10. These companies will then conduct their own test procedures on the firmware update before rolling it out to their subscribers.
Users can expect to receive the patch within the next few weeks. They will be informed about the availability of the update through a notification.
According to Motorola, it started developing the patch in June immediately after Google learned about the vulnerability of its Android operating system.
Security experts explained that hackers can exploit Android's Stagefright media playback tool by sending a text message that contains a video file infected with malware. Even if users do not open the message, the Stagefright tool can automatically play the multimedia file.
Once this happens, the malware will infect the device's firmware and allow hackers to access the user's stored data and information. Experts warned that about 950 million Android users are at risk of being targeted using the Stagefright exploit.
Motorola is the latest tech firm to release a security patch for its devices. Yesterday, South Korean company LG announced that it will receive updates on a monthly basis to ensure that its users are protected, ZDNet reported.
Google and Samsung have also started working on their own security patches to prevent potential hackers from taking advantage of Android's Stagefright tool.
For those who haven't received a security update yet, they can protect their devices from being exploited by disabling the Auto-retrieve MMS feature. This can be done by heading over to the Settings tab of the Messaging menu.
