Google’s announcement is sort of an extension of an existing security practice.
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In their Black Hat presentation, Bobrov and Bashan said Check Point reported its findings to Google, OEMs and vendors in mid-April. He covered a few topics, starting with the bug called Stagefright.
Last week, a pretty nasty Android security vulnerability was discovered, leaving most folks wondering if their devices would ever get fixed. It’s the software version of open heart surgery. Once Drake was able to corrupt the control counter, the seriousness of the bug was established. He also said less than 0.15 percent of Android devices that install apps exclusively from the Google Play market have any kind of potentially harmful app installed.
Clearly there’s a difference of opinion.
These vulnerabilities are believed to be extremely risky because they do not require that the victim take any action to be exploited.
The fix Zimperium noted that Android devices need a firmware update to reconfigure the operating system.
– Sony: Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z4, Xperia Z3 Compact.
Google promises monthly Android security updates; following its footsteps Samsung has also announced its latest Android security update process that will fast-track security patches.
However, it has vowed to push the updates out faster and will issue a monthly update schedule to try to ensure bugs like Stagefright do not infect phones. The update with this fix is rolling out to Nexus devices now.
The Mountain View-based company said on Wednesday it would work with phone makers to fix the flaw and promised to regularly update security measures for Android devices.
The company said that majority of the android devices have actually been protected by the “address space layout organization programming technique”, and that a new feature will come to its messenger app. The messenger app has been used to propagate the Stagefright bug, which is disguised as video links.
Put it all together and these devices have a long update cycle. Android is the world’s largest operating system, but it’s run by a wild network of players. And after all that, the cellular networks like AT&T and Verizon must make sure the new software functions properly on their networks. But most affected Android phones are defenseless, and may stay that way for weeks.
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One of the biggest issues that hit Android smartphones and tablets is security, and so this had to be one of the major decision factors for releasing monthly updates from now on.
