Now anyone can bypass the Android Factory Reset Protection on Samsung smartphones

Among the many new features introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google also rolled out a new feature meant to prevent smartphone thefts. Called Factory Reset Protection, the security system was supposed to prevent thiefs from re-selling a stolen Android phone.

In theory, the Android Factory Reset Protection makes it nearly impossible for a potential thief to activate a new Google account if a factory reset has been performed. In practice, however, it looks like tricking the system doesn't require too much hard work, at least not if the thief got his hands on one of Samsung's Android smartphones.

An Android developer known as RootJunky came up with a method to bypass the Factory Reset Protection on Samsung devices. RootJunky's method exploits a flaw in the way that Samsung's Android implementation responds when a USB storage device is plugged in: whenever Samsung phones detect that a USB storage device, they automatically launch the File Manager app.