iPhone 5 Release Pressures HTC as They Launch Security Investigation

HTC Launches Official Investigation into Reported Security Issue

Here's a breakdown of the specs and features of the HTC EVO 4G LTE, the release date of which is set for the second quarter of 2012. Reuters

iPhone 5 could be launched within weeks and appears headed for record numbers of sales. That can't be good news for Android phone maker HTC, who over the weekend found out its EVO 3D and EVO 4G phones have a vast security vulnerability that forced it to launch an internal investigation, tech blog Computerworld said.

Not all Android devices are affected because the particular version HTC uses is one that is customized just for the EVO 3D, EVO 4G and Thunderbolt. These Android versions reportedly allow a program with internet access to be able to find all kinds of data on the device. Several researchers discovered the breach, contatcted HTC, and after five days of not hearing from them, went public with their finding, Computerworld said.

HTC has announced they are taking it very seriously and will look into it quickly, but it's unclear how vulnerable HTC users are. It should be an easy fix, Rik Ferguson, director of security research and communications at Trend Micro, told BBC News. But on closer inspection, a hacker would easily be able to exploit the weakness to access someone's email or even location with GPS data, said Artem Russ in a blog post for the Android Police tech blog.

HTC has not announced a fix yet, but Trevor Eckhart, one of the researchers who found the weakness, posted a YouTube video showing how to fix it. It requires users to root their devices, known as jailbreaking. Do you have one of these devices? Tell us in the comments section if you are worried about the security of HTC phones now.