Windows insecurity is the stuff of Android’s future
No matter how you look at this, Google’s weekend remote wipe of malicious apps from users phones is just ugly, ugly, ugly. Scores of infected apps have been identified on the Market and searchzilla isn’t saying which or if all have been marked for death, and then there’s the involvement of law enforcement.
Google Mobile Blog reports the company used the kill switch built into Android over the weekend to forcibly remove “a number” — how many is that exactly? — malware apps from user phones. The apps, which we can only assume include some or all of the 50-plus identified by researchers, have also been removed from the Android Market.
“We are remotely removing the malicious applications from affected devices,” Google wrote. “This remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team can use to help protect users from malicious applications.”
Google says it updating Android devices to block the exploit hidden in copied legitimate programs to prevent any further compromise of user data. Further, they’ve notified law enforcement about the activities of some unknown number of these malicious apps developers.
Wrong approach, wrong result
Thereupon, Veracode CTO Chris Wysopal told Forbes that he believes Google is likely introducing signature-based scanning to the Android Market, a tool for identifying malware and making sure that similar instances of malicious code are blocked from the Market in the future, just like viruses are identified and blocked by signature-based scans on Windows PCs.
And, golly gee whiz we all know how well that’s worked on the PC!
Additionally, Google’s working on a fix that must be distributed by their partners and not pushed directly users. Again, golly gee whiz we all know how well that’s worked out for Android users in the past — there are literally millions of Android 1.6 devices that will never see another update of any kind.
Wanna avoid malware on an Android 1.6 device — yeah, you’ve got months to go on your contract — then you better buy a new phone and be ready to pay for the privilege of breaking the contract.
Pain for users, jail for perps
There is no form of crime prevention that’s foolproof and, if one existed, it would probably be morally repugnant. However, the involvement of police, prosecutors and lawyers in general signals failure as the crime has been committed and victims hurt.
Thereupon, Google’s approach to Android is just flawed. It’s open, wide open to any scumbag, or dumb kid, with a compiler and only addresses problems after they’ve been identified, after people have been hurt.
Thereupon, when you send criminals to jail at least one-in-three comes out of jail a much better criminal with better connections and not reformed in the least. Moreover, these are people with software development skills and they’re more use to us without criminal records.
I’m not saying Apple’s App Store nanny approach to iPhone security is perfect or that there aren’t any malicious apps on the store right now, but leaving users to fend for themselves until after the fact is wrong. Also, whereas it’s really easy to hate the perpetrators, pigeon holing them as evil and prone to doing evil, how can giving them a smaller opportunity to do bad be a bad thing?
That said, Andriod users, the Microsoft Windows security model is your future and the viruses, spyware, adware and general malware malaise are just a part of life. Get used to it or demand better from Google…
What’s your take?
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March 7th, 2011
Android will follow Windows PCs. Don’t want Android viruses. Buy an iphone.
March 8th, 2011
The only thing the Android platform is useful for is propagating malware and spam. If you love these and no doubt as a Windows user you do then this is your platform boys. You’ll feel right at home since everything is copied directly from Apple just like Windows and and you will own 100% of all the malware just like Windows. You also feel happy to know that Apple is malware free and offers a safe ecosystem in iOS just like OS-X. You are free to transfer all your delusional ideas and Microsoft lies over to defending Android just like you have always done so there is a home for those unwilling and unable to think for themselves.
March 8th, 2011
Perhaps a little extreme and biased from the Apple perspective. Apple systems are not 100 per cent secure and indeed they have been hacked into before Windows systems in recent Pwn2Own competitions, illustrating that they are far from perfect.
That said, at the current time of writing, I think it would take a complete moron to suggest that Apple computers are not safer than Microsoft computers. Who knows what will happen a few years down the line, Apple computers could be teeming with malware so I am not sure your evaluation of Apple safety is completely correct.
I sit here typing on my Mac whilst fixing a Windows computer infected with the recent System Tools virus. Shamefully, some people do not know about anti virus software and in these cases, Mac computers are undeniably infinitely more secure at this time as the risks of viruses and malware is far lower.