Tag: samsung

I recently purchased a refurbished Samsung Galaxy Watch off Amazon through a third-party seller. Now, a few hours later, it occurs to me that it is possible that the previous owner could have rooted the device and that the refurbishing process did not undo it. I can’t just do a factory reset from the watch itself, since the owner could have modified the bootloader to only go through the motions of resetting, while keeping the compromise intact.

So,

1. Is this something that I actually need to worry about?
2. If so, then how can I check my new Galaxy Watch for compromised firmware? Is there an official process I can run, perhaps a reference firmware that I can compare to?
3. If I find such firmware, is there a way to remove it? Alternatively, is there an external reset process I can do on the watch to ensure that no malware is left on the device, whether or not it is there?

Some miscellaneous information:

• Primarily, I am concerned about the watch being used by a remote attacker to collect login credentials, such as for Samsung and Google accounts and potentially payment information (such as through Samsung Pay).
• I do not have any reason to believe I could be specifically targeted – I imagine the device would be compromised as part of a random sample to get credentials.
• I cannot get around using my Samsung account, since I plan on using the watch to track sleep and physical activity.
• If I end up finding compromised firmware, or have no method of ensuring that my device is not compromised, I plan on returning the watch and buying a factory new one.