Amazon Kindle remains a popular choice for e-book readers, but its popularity also opens doors for security risks. That’s exactly what security research firm Check Point demonstrated in its latest report that notes Kindle e-reader could’ve be vulnerable to hacking through free e-books. The company states that a malicious book can be published and made available for free on e-libraries, including the Kindle Store, via the “self-publishing” service. These books can often reach end-users directly from the hacker in the guise of services from Amazon. If successfully installed, malware-laden e-books can expose information, billing accounts, and so. Even stolen email IDs can pave the way for sophisticated phishing attacks.

Check Point further claims that anti-viruses do not have signatures for e-books, which essentially means these applications may not detect the malware. The company adds that it successfully uploaded the malware to highlight the vulnerability. In a release, it is said that Kindle exploitation could be an easy operation for hackers to target specific audiences. This was possible by targeting books popular in a particular region. “To use a random example, if a threat actor wanted to target Romanian citizens, all they would need to do is publish some free and popular e-book in the Romanian language.” Speaking more over the possibility of a breach, the company notes that understanding Kindle’s architecture, which uses Linux codes at its core, helped them successfully hack their own e-reader.