4 ms·

Android is already known to be less secure than iOS, how much worse will it get now?

by samename 2y ago

sva_ 2y ago
Probably not much. Main risk on Android is from shady apps. The reward program was only aimed at very popular apps.
stronglikedan 2y ago
maybe once upon a time, but that's no longer the case. they each have vulnerabilities, just different ones.
nonplus 2y ago
That question seems like it has to be framed in a misunderstanding of how secure you believe the iOS platform is. Here's a list of CVEs for iOS just this year: https://www.bitsight.com/blog/apple-vulnerabilities-cisa-known-exploited-vulnerabilities https://www.bitsight.com/blog/apple-vulnerabilities-cisa-kno... If you went back farther, you would find exploits that compromise your iOS device simply by receiving a compromised jpg image, not even by you opening the message. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/apple-patches-clickless-0-day-image-processing-vulnerability-in-ios-macos/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/apple-patches-clickl... I think the expectation in 2024 should simply be 0 day exploits are available for purchase that target both platforms, neither is secure.
015a 2y ago
On your iPhone, recognizing and accepting the obvious risk that a stranger on the internet is telling you to enter some weird input in your computer: pull down Spotlight and type "":: iOS is a very buggy operating system; they polish the hell out of the top of it, but its internals are hairy and scary. That first paragraph doesn't represent a security bug, but its adjacent to many other, more serious problems iOS has had. Its about once every-other year we get some wild bug where a complete stranger can text you a specially crafted string of unicode characters and it crashes the entire OS. It isn't fair or accurate to say that Android is less secure than iOS in 2024. They both have problems, and both will continue to have problems, but both are significantly more secure than they were 10 years ago, and its very rare for applications downloaded from their respective official app stores to do significant damage to the user. The correct lens through which to view this policy change is: It was a program which exclusively worked with "major applications", and this kind of program is a responsibility which these major applications should take on, not Google.
- buildbot 2y ago
  Huh, wild. “:”: also crashes spotlight on iOS 18.1
  - ikekkdcjkfke 2y ago
    The fix for this is obviously to pre-filter that exact string /s
    - buildbot 2y ago
      Yeah, there’s a few more I’ve found now too. It’s interesting, any search box can trigger it, for example, the settings app search. Essentially anything for x will crash it: “”:x
- rfl890 2y ago
  Between the both of them, I would take the more "open" one.
wnevets 2y ago
iOS has a hardware backdoor built in. [1] [1] https://bgr.com/tech/the-most-sophisticated-iphone-attack-ever-used-a-hidden-hardware-feature-to-backdoor-the-phone-but-youre-safe/ https://bgr.com/tech/the-most-sophisticated-iphone-attack-ev...
overstay8930 2y ago
Android isn’t less secure but you can definitely screw up Android way more than you can iOS, there are some massive botnets that run purely on Android.
- ece 2y ago
  Android TV boxes are really like the Windows ME of yore.
  - LegitShady 2y ago
    Pretty sure many of them come pre-pwned
rty32 2y ago
Reference needed.
joemazerino 2y ago
Considering zerodium and other 0day vendors are spending more on Android than iPhone, I don't agree. https://zerodium.com/program.html https://zerodium.com/program.html

Android is already known to be less secure than iOS, how much worse will it get now?

sva_ 2y ago

Probably not much. Main risk on Android is from shady apps. The reward program was only aimed at very popular apps.

stronglikedan 2y ago

maybe once upon a time, but that's no longer the case. they each have vulnerabilities, just different ones.

nonplus 2y ago

That question seems like it has to be framed in a misunderstanding of how secure you believe the iOS platform is. Here's a list of CVEs for iOS just this year: https://www.bitsight.com/blog/apple-vulnerabilities-cisa-known-exploited-vulnerabilities https://www.bitsight.com/blog/apple-vulnerabilities-cisa-kno... If you went back farther, you would find exploits that compromise your iOS device simply by receiving a compromised jpg image, not even by you opening the message. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/apple-patches-clickless-0-day-image-processing-vulnerability-in-ios-macos/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/apple-patches-clickl... I think the expectation in 2024 should simply be 0 day exploits are available for purchase that target both platforms, neither is secure.

015a 2y ago

On your iPhone, recognizing and accepting the obvious risk that a stranger on the internet is telling you to enter some weird input in your computer: pull down Spotlight and type "":: iOS is a very buggy operating system; they polish the hell out of the top of it, but its internals are hairy and scary. That first paragraph doesn't represent a security bug, but its adjacent to many other, more serious problems iOS has had. Its about once every-other year we get some wild bug where a complete stranger can text you a specially crafted string of unicode characters and it crashes the entire OS. It isn't fair or accurate to say that Android is less secure than iOS in 2024. They both have problems, and both will continue to have problems, but both are significantly more secure than they were 10 years ago, and its very rare for applications downloaded from their respective official app stores to do significant damage to the user. The correct lens through which to view this policy change is: It was a program which exclusively worked with "major applications", and this kind of program is a responsibility which these major applications should take on, not Google.

buildbot 2y ago
Huh, wild. “:”: also crashes spotlight on iOS 18.1
- ikekkdcjkfke 2y ago
  The fix for this is obviously to pre-filter that exact string /s
  - buildbot 2y ago
    Yeah, there’s a few more I’ve found now too. It’s interesting, any search box can trigger it, for example, the settings app search. Essentially anything for x will crash it: “”:x
rfl890 2y ago
Between the both of them, I would take the more "open" one.

wnevets 2y ago

iOS has a hardware backdoor built in. [1] [1] https://bgr.com/tech/the-most-sophisticated-iphone-attack-ever-used-a-hidden-hardware-feature-to-backdoor-the-phone-but-youre-safe/ https://bgr.com/tech/the-most-sophisticated-iphone-attack-ev...

overstay8930 2y ago

Android isn’t less secure but you can definitely screw up Android way more than you can iOS, there are some massive botnets that run purely on Android.

ece 2y ago
Android TV boxes are really like the Windows ME of yore.
- LegitShady 2y ago
  Pretty sure many of them come pre-pwned

rty32 2y ago

Reference needed.

joemazerino 2y ago

Considering zerodium and other 0day vendors are spending more on Android than iPhone, I don't agree. https://zerodium.com/program.html https://zerodium.com/program.html