No One Cares About the Security of Unlocked Android Phones • Hacker News Board

Re: No One Cares About the Security of Unlocked Android Phones

#41

Post by tmzt » Fri, Nov 18, 2016, 1:59 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #11

m3rc wrote: post #2

Which is exactly why we need to fix this problem. Consumer products don't have good security at all and it's making the world a worse place

It's more complicated than that. If Google just produced a standard version of Android with a standard kernel version that all vendors would write for, refreshing and wiping phones would be as easy as Windows/Linux laptops. I wrote a post on this a while back: http://penguindreams.org/blog/android-fragmentation/ Since then, I've become more and more frustrated with other ARM boards. Android fragmentation is directly…

One approach would be to define an ABI-like interface above the kernel layer which all Android userlands would adhere to. It would specify the functions for libraries like libhardware and libstagefright, as well as the GLES or Vulkan extensions needed to be supported. Google would takeover software updates against this certified base, with the OEM providing the base system for their hardware.

Re: No One Cares About the Security of Unlocked Android Phones

#42

Post by on_and_off » Mon, Nov 21, 2016, 12:58 PM UTC

turc1656 wrote: post #29

The general consumer really needs to start caring about this kind of stuff and start demanding more secure devices. They should refuse to upgrade their phones to the next model until devices are reasonably secure. Problem is that the average person cares far too much about convenience and having that sleek, next-gen gadget. Which is why this problem persists. Personally, I purchased a BlackBerry Priv (which runs Andr…

is it also ahead of the Nexus / Pixel (and if so, how ? ) ?

Also, does it get the security patches in a timely manner ? I kinda remember them refusing to commit to that

Re: No One Cares About the Security of Unlocked Android Phones

#43

Post by lucian1900 » Mon, Nov 21, 2016, 5:41 PM UTC

simonh wrote: post #10

lucian1900 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Security on desktop OSes is still much worse, with even sandboxing being fairly rare.

Oh come on. The virus situation on Windows XP was appalling. The system was wide open. It's the primary reason I mainly switched to the Mac in 2006. Sane security was the one truly good thing that's come out of the post-XP era of MS operating systems.

Desktop OSes still run every app as the user, which gives them access to everything useful by default. Mobile OSes differ in this respect since they sandbox by default.

Re: No One Cares About the Security of Unlocked Android Phones

#44

Post by JohnGrin » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 10:50 AM UTC

I downloaded VPN on my phone to protect my security (found helpful resources here https://myipservices.com/). I think that Android VPN services are must-have for all the Android users. I prefer well-known ExpressVPN. It has high connection speed and a high rate of efficiency.