Tag: Xiaomi | SpinSafe

Xiaomi announces 13T Pro with promise of four major Android updates

September 26, 2023/in Mobile Security

Xiaomi is launching the 13T and 13T Pro today, two smartphones that will benefit from more Android upgrades than what it’s offered previously. Both are due to receive four major Android updates as well as five years of security patches, Xiaomi’s communications director, Daniel Desjarlais, announced earlier this month.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro will start at £649 (€799, or around $790), while the 13T will start at £549 (€649, or around $669), and both will be available starting today in the UK. The phones will primarily be sold in European markets, but based on Xiaomi’s previous smartphone releases, they’re unlikely to be officially available in the US.

Xiaomi 13T Pro in green.

Image: Xiaomi

A support commitment of four major Android updates and five years of security patches brings Xiaomi more or less in line with what Samsung promises for its latest Galaxy S23 phones and is technically better than the three major Android upgrades Google offers with its latest Pixels. But there’s an important caveat with Xiaomi’s 13T series: they’re shipping with last year’s Android 13 out of the box. So at least one of these Android upgrades is going to be used on updating the phones to this year’s Android 14.

And in black.

Image: Xiaomi

Like Xiaomi’s previous phones, the 13T and 13T Pro once again feature a Leica-branded camera system, though there are fewer hardware novelties this time around. There’s no one-inch-type sensor like we saw with the Xiaomi 13 Pro, nor are Xiaomi buyers getting a 200-megapixel sensor this time around. (It’s probably for the best.) Instead, on both phones, you’re getting 50-megapixel main cameras with a 1/1.28-inch sensor paired with a 50-megapixel telephoto, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 20-megapixel front camera.

Internally, the Xiaomi 13T Pro is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9200 Plus processor, while the 13T packs a Dimensity 8200-Ultra. Both have 5,000mAh batteries, but only the 13T Pro can be fast-charged at up to 120W for a full charge in as little as 19 minutes. (The non-Pro 13T tops out at 67W.)

Around front, both phones have a 6.67-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 2,600 nits (1,200 nits typical), and a…

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Some Xiaomi phones have serious security flaws

August 15, 2022/in Mobile Security

A flaw discovered in some Xiaomi phones (opens in new tab) could have cost users their hard-earned money.

Cybersecurity experts from Check Point Research (CPR) found a flaw in the devices’ mobile payment mechanism, which threat actors could have used to sign fake payments, essentially stealing people’s money.

“We discovered a set of vulnerabilities that could allow forging of payment packages or disabling the payment system directly, from an unprivileged Android application,” commented Slava Makkaveev, Security Researcher at Check Point.” We were able to hack into WeChat Pay and implemented a fully worked proof of concept.”

According to CPR’s report, the flaw was found in Xiaomi’s Trusted Environment, a tool that stores and manages sensitive information, such as passwords, or security keys. There were two ways to go about stealing people’s cash: by having them install malware, or by stealing and tinkering with the device itself.

Fixing the problems fast

In the first instance, the malware would extract the keys, and send fake payment packets to steal the money. In the second instance, the attacker would need to root the smartphone (opens in new tab), downgrade the trust environment, then run the code to create a fake payment package without an application.

In both cases, however, the endpoint would need to be running on MediaTek processors.

After finding the flaw, CPR notified Xiaomi, which seems to have worked fast to address the issue: “We immediately disclosed our findings to Xiaomi, who worked swiftly to issue a fix,” Makkaveev noted.

“Our message to the public is to constantly make sure your phones are updated to the latest version provided by the manufacturer. If even mobile payments are not secure, then what is?”

Mobile payment systems seem to be the next big frontier. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market is expected to hit $11.83 trillion in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 29.1%. That also makes it a major target for cybercriminals, who’ve been increasingly targeting payment systems, cryptocurrency wallets, and similar.

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