“We’re on day who-the-heck-knows of the Android Stagefright security vulnerability, and there’s really no point keeping track of the days because no one’s going to fix it,” Ron Amadeo writes for Ars Technica. “The Android ecosystem can’t deal with security, and it won’t change until it’s too late.”
“Android still uses a software update chain-of-command designed back when the Android ecosystem had zero devices to update, and it just doesn’t work,” Amadeo writes. “There are just too many cooks in the kitchen: Google releases Android to OEMs, OEMs can change things and release code to carriers, carriers can change things and release code to consumers. It’s been broken for years.”
“The Android ecosystem’s reaction to the ‘Stagefright’ vulnerability is an example of how terrible things are. An estimated 95 percent of Android devices have a have a remote arbitrary code execution just by receiving malicious video MMS. Android has other protections in place to stop this vulnerability from running amok on your smartphone, but it’s still really scary. As you might expect, Google, Samsung, and LG have all pledged to ‘Take Security Seriously’ and issue a fix as soon as possible,” Amadeo writes. “Their ‘fix’ is going to be to patch 2.6 percent of all active Android devices. Tops. That’s the percentage of Android devices that are running Android 5.1 today, nearly five months after the OS was released. And 2.6 percent is a generous estimation for the top-end of “currently supported” Android devices in the wild. In reality, the number of devices getting a Stagefright patch will almost certainly be much lower.”
“The Android update machine is broken, and in order to rebuild it in a way that works, we need to burn it down,” Amadeo writes. “Anyone have a match?”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, you need a light? Here ya go!
SEE ALSO:
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Security experts: Malware spreading to millions on Android phones – November 21, 2014
There’s practically no iOS malware, thanks to Apple’s smart control over app distribution – June 13, 2014
F-Secure: Android accounted for 99% of new mobile malware in Q1 2014 – April 30, 2014
Google’s Sundar Pichai: Android not designed to be safe; if I wrote malware, I’d target Android, too – February 27, 2014
Cisco: Android the target of 99 percent of world’s mobile malware – January 17, 2014
U.S. DHS, FBI warn of malware threats to Android mobile devices – August 27, 2013
Android app malware rates skyrocket 40 percent in last quarter – August 7, 2013
First malware found in wild that exploits Android app signing flaw – July 25, 2013
Mobile Threats Report: Android accounts for 92% of all mobile malware – June 26, 2013
Latest self-replicating Android Trojan looks and acts just like Windows malware – June 7, 2013
99.9% of new mobile malware targets Android phones – May 30, 2013
Mobile malware exploding, but only for Android – May 14, 2013
Mobile malware: Android is a bad apple – April 15, 2013
F-Secure: Android accounted for 96% of all mobile malware in Q4 2012 – March 7, 2013
New malware attacks Android phones, Windows PCs to eavesdrop, steal data; iPhone, Mac users unaffected – February 4, 2013
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Tayster” for the heads up.]