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The issue is having the dominant operating system. If you using a minority OS on a platform, then your point is valid. But where Linux is dominant there is mal

The issue is having the dominant operating system. If you using a minority OS on a platform, then your point is valid. But where Linux is dominant there is malware. Reportedly, Android mobile OS malware is up exponentially in the last two years. http://bitcast-maa1.bitgravity.com/quickheal/documents/others/quick_heal_quarterly_threat_report_Q3_2014.pdf http://bitcast-maa1.bitgravity.com/quickheal/documents/other...

higherpurpose 12y ago
I don't think the Android ecosystem should be compared to an enterprise Linux ecosystem. Android is pretty secure on its own, I think with a security/sandboxing design that beats Windows's design for example. It even has SELinux enforced by default now, something even most Linux distros don't have. But every piece of software has bugs, some of which are catastrophic to the security of the device (GoTo Fail, Heartbleed, etc). Therefore updates are critical to the security of the ecosystem of machines. An enterprise environment can (should?) get updates much more easily than the vast majority of Android phones out there right now. Many of them get no updates and people keep them for 2-4 years. Many others get only one update in that same time, and only a smaller percentage are updated for like 18 months, even though many of those same users keep using them longer. Android's main security problem is the lack of updates. Windows' main security problem is its bad design - apps/malware can do almost anything once they are installed, and we all know people do stupid things such as installing exe's from email attachments. Heck, Windows even gives you admin privileges by default, and we are still surprised Windows has so much malware built for it? It's like asking for it.
- jodrellblank 12y ago
  Android's main security problem is the lack of updates. Windows' main security problem is its bad design - apps/malware can do almost anything once they are installed Do you know there have been windows releases since Windows 98se? Ones with real user accounts, ACLs, firewalls and UAC? You onky get limited access by default, admin access requires you to approve the UAC checks. And you're still comparing a home Windows system with an "Enterprise Linux ecosystem". No normal business Windows deployment will give anyone admin rights by default. Once software is installed on any OS using administrative/root permissions, it can do anything. Run a software installer on Linux as root and it could disable SELinux, for example.

higherpurpose 12y ago

I don't think the Android ecosystem should be compared to an enterprise Linux ecosystem. Android is pretty secure on its own, I think with a security/sandboxing design that beats Windows's design for example. It even has SELinux enforced by default now, something even most Linux distros don't have. But every piece of software has bugs, some of which are catastrophic to the security of the device (GoTo Fail, Heartbleed, etc). Therefore updates are critical to the security of the ecosystem of machines. An enterprise environment can (should?) get updates much more easily than the vast majority of Android phones out there right now. Many of them get no updates and people keep them for 2-4 years. Many others get only one update in that same time, and only a smaller percentage are updated for like 18 months, even though many of those same users keep using them longer. Android's main security problem is the lack of updates. Windows' main security problem is its bad design - apps/malware can do almost anything once they are installed, and we all know people do stupid things such as installing exe's from email attachments. Heck, Windows even gives you admin privileges by default, and we are still surprised Windows has so much malware built for it? It's like asking for it.

jodrellblank 12y ago
Android's main security problem is the lack of updates. Windows' main security problem is its bad design - apps/malware can do almost anything once they are installed Do you know there have been windows releases since Windows 98se? Ones with real user accounts, ACLs, firewalls and UAC? You onky get limited access by default, admin access requires you to approve the UAC checks. And you're still comparing a home Windows system with an "Enterprise Linux ecosystem". No normal business Windows deployment will give anyone admin rights by default. Once software is installed on any OS using administrative/root permissions, it can do anything. Run a software installer on Linux as root and it could disable SELinux, for example.