Wireless carriers leave millions of Android phones vulnerable to hackers
2013-02-14 09:41 by Daniela
Tags: hackers, security, Android
In times when many people own an iPhone or Android phone, it turns out that their phones are put at risk, due to lack of security updates. A security researcher claims that there are millions of vulnerable Android phones in the hands of consumers today because wireless phone carriers and phone hardware makers refuse to transmit existing software security fixes to phones in a timely manner.
"When Apple decides that it's going to give a security update to consumers or a feature update, every consumer who plugs their phone into their computer gets the update whether or not their respective regional carrier likes it," said Chris Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, at the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit.
"With Android, the situation is worse than a joke, it's a crisis," said Soghoian. "With Android, you get updates when the carrier and hardware manufacturers want them to go out. Usually, that's not often because the hardware vendor has thin [profit] margins. Whenever Google updates Android, engineers have to modify it for each phone, chip, radio card that relies on the OS. Hardware vendors must make a unique version for each device and they have scarce resources. Engineers are usually focused on the current version, and devices that are coming out in the next year."
According to Soghoian, the carriers and hardware makers blame each other for the delays, but the bottom line is that consumers are left with outdated and vulnerable devices.
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