This smartphone hack is cool... literally
Now here's a hack, the kind of which you might have not heard of before. It involves a smartphone, a freezer, and a hacker with the right skills. Do we have your attention already? Okay, then here's how it all breaks down.
A team of researchers at Erlangen University in Germany have found a way of accessing information stored in a smartphone's RAM (random access memory) regardless of whether the device is protected by a password or whether its storage is encrypted. Their hack involves chilling the device down to -15 degrees Celsius (that's 5 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to take advantage of a phenomenon known as "remanence". Simply put, when voltage supplied to RAM is cut off, whatever information is stored in it is erased almost instantly. If cooled down, however, the chips will retain that information for a few more seconds.
A Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets frozen and hacked
So there you have it, guys: no matter what kind of advanced methods we use to secure our mobile devices, chances are that there will always be ways of cracking them open. That said, having no controversial stuff stored on your smartphone or tablet is probably a very good idea.
source: Erlangen University via Forbes
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