Apps & Services

Samsung Message Guard Helps Protect Your Data from the Latest Threats

2/16/2023

The next big threat to mobile security could happen to anyone – but Samsung Galaxy has a new line of defense.

Did you know that simply receiving an image on your phone might be enough for hackers to access your device? While everyone knows not to open random links or attachments, that cannot guarantees safety as cybercriminals constantly explore new attack methods.

“Zero-click” exploits are the latest kind of cyberattack, and they can happen any time an image is received on a phone. A single image could contain malicious code.

Samsung Electronics is constantly looking ahead to anticipate potential threats and develop preemptive security measures – such as Samsung Message Guard.

New Security for New Threats

Imagine this: your phone receives an image via text and it vibrates gently or it’s on your bedside table, lighting up briefly as you sleep. You haven’t touched your phone, but someone may already be reading your messages, browsing your gallery and viewing other personal data.

Zero-click exploits are just the latest threat in an era of increased cybercrime targeting user data. One in three consumers around the world has been the victim of a data breach where their personal data was hacked.[1] Data breaches are increasingly common, with rates more than tripling between 2013 and 2021.[2]

Threats evolve, and so does Samsung’s mobile security. Samsung Galaxy smartphones offer comprehensive safeguards with the powerful Samsung Knox platform, to help protect users from attacks using video and audio formats. Samsung Message Guard takes that security one step further by preemptively providing another layer of protection for your device, limiting exposure to invisible threats disguised as image attachments.[3]

The security solution currently works on Samsung Messages and Messages by Google.[4] In line with Samsung’s philosophy of open collaboration, a software update will roll out at a later date for Samsung Message Guard to work with third party messaging apps as well.

How It Works

Samsung Message Guard acts like an advanced ‘sandbox,’ or a kind of virtual quarantine. When an image file arrives via text, the image is trapped and isolated from the rest of your device. This helps to prevent malicious code from accessing the device’s files or interacting with its operating system. Samsung Message Guard checks the image file bit by bit and processes it in a controlled environment to ensure it cannot infect the rest of your device.

Simply put, Samsung Message Guard is designed to automatically neutralize any potential threat hiding in image files before they can harm the device. It runs silently and largely invisibly in the background, and does not need to be activated by the user.

Samsung Message Guard is the latest forward-looking security solution from Samsung. Samsung Galaxy devices already provide industry-leading security and privacy protections in other areas, thanks to the award-winning Samsung Knox platform, which provides end-to-end protection across every layer of hardware and software, as well as real-time threat detection.

Availability

Samsung Message Guard is available on the new Samsung Galaxy S23 series. It will be rolled out to other Galaxy smartphones and tablets [5] later this year.