Thursday, October 15, 2015

Android is Hilariously Insecure – 87% of Phones are Vulnerable

This is a daily opinion column written by Lowell Heddings, the founder of How-To Geek, featuring his take on the latest in the world of technology.



Home_-_Android_Vulnerabilities

Android is hilariously insecure. That’s why we recommend iPhone over Android if you’re at all worried about security. Sure, you might be able to do a few more things with Android, but you’re also leaving yourself open to a lot more potential security threats.

The lead image is from androidvulnerabilities.org, which has an app that is used to detect which devices are patched. Note that we’re not recommending that you install that app, as we’ve never used it, and it monitors your device in the background and sends back data to their servers.

​Android security a ‘market for lemons’ that leaves 87 percent vulnerable

Nearly 90 percent of Android devices are exposed to at least one critical vulnerability, because of Android handset makers’ failure to deliver patches, according to research from the UK’s University of Cambridge.

Consumers, regulators, and corporate buyers face a common problem when assessing Android smartphones, in that no one knows which vendor will supply patches after Google develops fixes for Android security bugs.

“The difficulty is that the market for Android security today is like the market for lemons,”

If you absolutely must get an Android phone, at least get a Nexus device straight from Google, as those usually receive patches on a more timely basis.


 

Every type of tech product has gotten cheaper over the last two decades — except for one

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks prices for broad categories of goods over time. As this chart of prices for the last 18 years shows, prices have dropped dramatically in almost every tech sector. The drop in computer hardware is particularly steep.

The one exception? Cable, satellite TV, and radio service.

I was just complaining about the price of internet access the other day.

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