Thousands of hackers will be able to break into the Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android mobile OS. The new software will allow experts to break into Android-powered phones to steal personal information from people who own smartphones which run the OS.

Google will probably offer a patch to protect handsets which use run Android and downloads which will patch software on phones already in the market. That works if people who use Android-based smartphones find out about the problem and take the time to download the patch.

Douglas A. McIntyre