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the problem with Android fragmentation is as old as Android. If you're a journalist, activist or anyone who needs critical security on a phone you're better off
by DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
the problem with Android fragmentation is as old as Android. If you're a journalist, activist or anyone who needs critical security on a phone you're better off not having one.
The options for anyone else is usually a) always use the latest iOS device or b) use a hardened Android, or c) use a dumb phone for all non-critical comms. I should repeat that: if you're worried about security consider using f2f interaction because the number of places you're likely to trip up are endless no matter what device.
- panpanna 7y agoCounterpoint: a bunch of bored teenagers hacked every single iPhone in Hollywood just to get some celebrity nudes. I don't believe in "hardened Android" either, unless it's developed and maintained by nsa or gchq.
- pertymcpert 7y agoThat was iCloud.
- panpanna 7y agoDoes it matter? The data is out, and while the attack surface was not the iphone itself it was a service closely connected to it.
- lutoma 7y agoRight, but the exact same thing could have happened with Google Photos or whatever it's called these days if you don't have 2fa enabled.
- MyelinatedT 7y agoNot really. Google has invested heavily in making its login process as secure as possible. Unless you had a very easily guessed password and were unlucky enough to live in the same region as your attacker, it'd be very unlikely for this to happen to a Google Photos user. That said, nudes don't belong in any cloud.
- panpanna 7y agoThe vulnerabilities that opened iCloud to these attacks were due to its iPhone integration (restoring device from backup to be more specific). It also allowed the attacker to bypass 2FA (probably in the name of user experience).
- inapis 7y agoThat was password stuffing against iCloud. Only mandatory 2FA would’ve prevented it - which Apple did with the next release of iOS.
- panpanna 7y agoThe hackers could bypass 2FA, see my other comment. It was silently fixed by apple once the story hit the mainstream news.
- wycy 7y agoWhy does fragmentation have to be so bad on Android? Windows runs on millions of different hardware configurations, including custom home-built machines, and all Windows machines receive software updates at the same time.
- cesarb 7y agoAs I commented in another article (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22264553 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22264553), every PC descends from the original IBM 5150 from the 1980s, which gives the PC a common base which phones never had.