Starting with good news would bring a smile to your face and especially when you get to know that more than half of all android devices recently got a security update, patching the vulnerable flaws prone to hack.
The 21st century has witnessed major data breaches and digital espionage. It starts from Adobe to Apple, Bank of America to British Airways, from Facebook to Yahoo and it goes on. All the companies had to face stolen data, hacked data, poor security, unprotected UPI and what not.
Now, its high time that this Giant tech company takes security issues and customer data protection as the most important challenge to overcome. It is actually the common man, the public who trust these companies with their sensitive and private data and it ends up in a hacker’s database.
Google released an annual report of the world’s 1.4 billion Android devices regarding security concerns. With the latest upgrade, few changes were seen. The Google Play store will have very little malware compared to the past. The Android devices are now better encrypted than before. And most astoundingly, more hackers than ever reported Android bugs to Google in exchange for “Bug Bounties”.
It really was a challenging job to gather all the manufacturers and carriers around the world under one roof to co-operate with routine patching Android phones and tablets.
Google’s director of Android security Adrian Ludwig said, that they are very proud as they could release a major security update for half of the total Android devices on earth. The numbers of devices are still raising as continued effort is being contributed by a dedicated team.
Insecurity in the Android Community
Half of the total Android devices has been updated and patch while the rest half is not. This, of course, is a reason to worry about for the Android team and even Google. The security concern is not yet over and there is a lot to work on.
Ludwig further says, “it’s nonetheless a milestone”.
He is also seen concerned about the other half Android users who didn’t get the update and is eagerly waiting. The fear of data breach and concern about data prevention is on the rise. Ludwig also estimates “that twice as many people installed an Android patch in 2016 as they did in 2015 and this number could soar up to 75 percent at the end of 2017.
For the Android Security Team, their official goal is expanding and they expect to get the job done as they are planning to eliminate Android security issues.
A researcher for Security firm Josh Drake says “those patching statistics are a mixed bag and if this is really doubling, that’s great but fifty percent is a terrible number”
In 2015 Drake finds out the Stagefright vulnerability, which with the help of a single message could take over Android phones.
Compared to Apple’s iOS boasts Google battled a long way to reach the high rate of software update adoption when it comes to upgrades and security patches.
This is not just a saying. Less than 3 percent of Android phones run the latest version of the operating system Nougat whereas around 80 percent of iOS devices run on the latest version of Apple’s that is iOS 10.
And Apple launched iOS 10 three weeks after Nougat was released.
Head of R& D of the mobile authentication security firm Duo Rich Smith said how are Android devices still lagging in security updates. He also points out that“well-publicized attack on Android phones given the name Quadrooter a security flaw that used to attack exploited devices and only 40 percent of phones had been patched in which Duo’s authentication app is installed.
Overcoming the Security issues
Android’s biggest struggle is to adapt security and software update adaption and patching rate. This is not a concern anymore, it should be a mandate for the giant tech organizations.
In case if you are not aware, only Samsung came up with 13 different models sold by 200 different carriers and the most interesting part is it could personalize the operating system to different degrees. As a result, there were 1500 variations of every version of the software.
The security director of Samsung Mobile Henry Lee said: “ it may seem that we just have got a patch from Google and will apply it, but it’s not that simple”.
More than 60 percent of Samsung users are said to have received an update in 2016, but as a matter of fact, 15 percent of users still use the old and unsupported version of Android and then there is another 15 percent who simply just ignores the updates.
Samsung security update reaches almost around 400 million Android devices expanding over hundreds of global carriers.
Coming to a conclusion
The article about Android’s Huge Security is more likely to have minimized comes to an end here. The Android team and even Google is hugely concerned about security and privacy issues. A team is absolutely committed to bringing a better future for 1.4 Billion Android Users around the globe.
