Of all the modern smartphone operating systems, Android is particularly known for being more heavily targeted by malware. It’s not a surprise, really, considering it’s a more open platform where malicious apps can make their way to your smartphone not just by installing things from unofficial sources, but also from the Google Play Store*.
The last couple of days has been rammed full of Apple related goodness with more than enough news coming out of Cupertino to keep the most hardcore Apple fan content. The release of the financial figures for the third quarter of 2012 showed great progress with seriously impressive sales of the iPad and a profit of $8.8 billion raked in during the period. And today, we saw the final retail version of OS X Mountain Lion hitting the Mac App Store, and is all set to consumed by millions of Mac users out there.
Over the last few months a number of vulnerabilities have been found within the iOS platform that could potentially allow some ethically challenged individuals to gain access to certain parts of a user’s handset if it is lost or stolen, even if a passcode lock is enabled. The methods used have generally been long winded and allows access mainly to the device’s Camera Roll, recent call logs, as well as allowing the perpetrator to be able to make outgoing voice or FaceTime calls in some cases. Being able to circumvent the passcode lock and access that kind of minimal data is concerning, but on the grander scale of things hardly represents a massive breach.
Privacy - particularly in this most digital of times - is a massive deal. You don't have to look a great deal further than the commotion surrounding Google's big privacy policy amendment today to realize that consumers care a great deal about privacy, and will kick and scream to the high hills if said privacy is threatened in any way.
A potential new privacy loophole has been discovered in the way iOS handles the Camera Roll and how apps are granted permission to interact with it. Unsurprisingly, the pitchforks are out all over again.
February seems to be the month of the iOS security bugs. And although we are fast approaching the end of the month, yet another flaw has been found which allows the passcode lock feature to be circumvented, giving unauthorized access to the device’s Camera Roll. Users have the option of setting a four digit passcode through the Settings menu which prevents the device from being unlocked without the necessary code being entered, but, it seems that this method of security in iOS is anything but flawless.
If there's anything that truly antagonizes consumers, it's breaches of privacy, resulting in data being accessed without due consent. In iOS, if a third-party app requires permission to access your location data with the intention of enhancing user experience, you're met with a popup window, and have the option to allow access, or simply block the app from knowing of your whereabouts.
Malware on mobile platforms is slowly but surely becoming a real issue. Its existence was basically ignored in the days of weaker smartphones, but with today’s multi-core, multiple GBs of RAM-toting smartphones with “open” operating systems such as Android, it simply can’t be ignored. Because of its flexible nature and lack of strict app-policing by Google, malware is a bigger issue on Android than it is on iOS and Windows Phone 7. A new malware has been discovered for Android, Redmond Pie has learned. This one more dangerous than usual, because it affects between 10,000-30,000 Android smartphones everyday. Details after the jump.
Despite Apple working pretty damned hard to tighten security with its latest iteration of the iOS mobile operating system, it’s only natural that flaws will occur; but unless they aid the jailbreaking process in any way, shape or form, we’re about as excited to see them as Tim Cook’s security squad is.
According to a new security report, malicious apps on Android have doubled in the past six months. Details after the jump!
