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After reading this, I have two questions: 1. Are there any statistics showing the ratio of security issues between Android and iOS? 2. What's the most common

by jvican 9y ago

After reading this, I have two questions: 1. Are there any statistics showing the ratio of security issues between Android and iOS? 2. What's the most common phone among security researchers? To be honest, I'm wary of believing this, but I own a Nexus and if I had to give the benefit of the doubt to either Google or Apple, it would most certainly be Apple because they don't make business out of my data (or, not as much as Google, at least).

pcurve 9y ago
I'm an Android user, but I feel the same way. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I were to create a new Google identity and start fresh. Would they try to re-establish my old email's profile and data to the new one without my consent?
- bsenftner 9y ago
  Yes, definitely.
- arunmib 9y ago
  I tried this as an exercise when they were pushing Google+. Created a new account, was very cognizant to read through all settings and ensured that nothing from my old account can be traced back to this new one. I'm not joking when I say nothing from my old account and tracking: 1. I timed my move (to different city inside bayarea) 2. Changing ISP to wave from comcast 3. Bought new computer 4. Closed my old phone account and only started using work phone. Never used hotspot in my work phone 5. Even changed my coffee drinking habit + free wifi access locations from Starbucks to Peets. Only thing I couldn't change was my name + SSN. Serious paranoid level of things for my online life, but they still populated my digital life with same info and recommendations. After about 10-15 days of doing all this, I enabled Google+ (because at that time to use youtube account, I had to enable it). You know who the first contact recommendation that was there for me under my family - my brother who is living in a different country. I just gave up at that point. Probably I did something wrong during the setup (or) slipped and used the accounts for some period of time on same computer or browser (or) the data companies which sell my offline data have really rich data about me. Whatever the goof-up was, it was just disheartening to learn that after all that work my online privacy just lasted at the max 15days. I really wish there were better ways. Considering the number of security/data breaches (e.g. recent equifax one) I feel like, I have little to no control on things.
  - pcurve 9y ago
    That is pretty frightening.... thanks for sharing your story.
482794793792894 9y ago
> 2. What's the most common phone among security researchers? Probably a dumbphone, so neither Android nor iOS...
- zulln 9y ago
  Security researchers are people as well. Most would have smartphones as well, but possible try to use them differently then the rest.
UncleMeat 9y ago
It is very hard to get this information in depth because researches publish on Android much more frequently (more users, more open platform). You can look at the CVEs reported on each platform though and the number of critical vulns is comparable at this point.
danieldk 9y ago
FWIW tptacek and a few others recommend iPhones for journalists: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13798321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13798321
- jvican 9y ago
  Sounds about what I was looking for. Thanks!
Fnoord 9y ago
> 2. What's the most common phone among security researchers? Not sure about which phone Schneier uses, but he argues that having a smartphone is a logical choice in today's society. However he also brings a nuance to that: that we have the pragmatic choice of leaving our smartphone at home instead of taking it with us, and that we should consider that. Keep in mind a dumbphone also has big brother capabilities. Just likely less precise/severe (assuming no remote holes).

by jvican 9y ago

pcurve 9y ago

I'm an Android user, but I feel the same way. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I were to create a new Google identity and start fresh. Would they try to re-establish my old email's profile and data to the new one without my consent?

bsenftner 9y ago
Yes, definitely.
arunmib 9y ago
I tried this as an exercise when they were pushing Google+. Created a new account, was very cognizant to read through all settings and ensured that nothing from my old account can be traced back to this new one. I'm not joking when I say nothing from my old account and tracking: 1. I timed my move (to different city inside bayarea) 2. Changing ISP to wave from comcast 3. Bought new computer 4. Closed my old phone account and only started using work phone. Never used hotspot in my work phone 5. Even changed my coffee drinking habit + free wifi access locations from Starbucks to Peets. Only thing I couldn't change was my name + SSN. Serious paranoid level of things for my online life, but they still populated my digital life with same info and recommendations. After about 10-15 days of doing all this, I enabled Google+ (because at that time to use youtube account, I had to enable it). You know who the first contact recommendation that was there for me under my family - my brother who is living in a different country. I just gave up at that point. Probably I did something wrong during the setup (or) slipped and used the accounts for some period of time on same computer or browser (or) the data companies which sell my offline data have really rich data about me. Whatever the goof-up was, it was just disheartening to learn that after all that work my online privacy just lasted at the max 15days. I really wish there were better ways. Considering the number of security/data breaches (e.g. recent equifax one) I feel like, I have little to no control on things.
- pcurve 9y ago
  That is pretty frightening.... thanks for sharing your story.

482794793792894 9y ago

> 2. What's the most common phone among security researchers? Probably a dumbphone, so neither Android nor iOS...

zulln 9y ago
Security researchers are people as well. Most would have smartphones as well, but possible try to use them differently then the rest.

UncleMeat 9y ago

It is very hard to get this information in depth because researches publish on Android much more frequently (more users, more open platform). You can look at the CVEs reported on each platform though and the number of critical vulns is comparable at this point.

danieldk 9y ago

FWIW tptacek and a few others recommend iPhones for journalists: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13798321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13798321

jvican 9y ago
Sounds about what I was looking for. Thanks!

Fnoord 9y ago

> 2. What's the most common phone among security researchers? Not sure about which phone Schneier uses, but he argues that having a smartphone is a logical choice in today's society. However he also brings a nuance to that: that we have the pragmatic choice of leaving our smartphone at home instead of taking it with us, and that we should consider that. Keep in mind a dumbphone also has big brother capabilities. Just likely less precise/severe (assuming no remote holes).