iOS or Android? Know which mobile OS is more secure!
Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms are more secure than traditional PCs, but still are very susceptible to many of the existing categories of attacks, according to Symantec’s analysis.
The good news is that Apple and Google have developed their systems keeping security in mind. But it is difficult to keep up-to-date with the ever-changing threats. In this research, Symantec has assessed how the both mobile platforms behaved with web-based attacks and in networks, phishing or spam attacks, attacks against the integrity of the data from the appliance and malwares.
Users of smart phones and tablets of the two systems tend to synchronize their devices with cloud services and with their desktop/notebooks. This practice can potentially expose sensitive data to systems outside the control of the company, according to Symantec.
As it was pointed out by security experts in the past, the confidence of user on Android to grant some permission is a weak point. Most users are not equipped with to make these decisions. In contrast, Apple’s system simply denies access, under any circumstances. While on Android, a malicious application only asks for the set of permissions that need to operate and in most cases, users grant permission happily.
A positive point of Google, according to Symantec, is that the company requires that developers pay a fee and register in order to distribute their apps through the official Android Market. The possible weaknesses of iOS include encryption, according to Symantec. Most of the data is encrypted in a way that can be decoded without requiring the user to type the master password. According to the report by Symantec, this means that an attacker with physical access to a iOS device can potentially read confidential data without knowing the access code. It is worth remembering that Researchers in Germany showed how to do this in six minutes.
Android recently began offering built-in encryption in version 3.0. However, earlier versions of the system lack such capacity. So far, security researchers have discovered about 200 different vulnerabilities in different iOS releases. But the vast majority of them are of lesser severity. And so far only 4 of 18 vulnerabilities have not been resolved by Google.
Jailbreaking
Symantec also warned the users who possess jailbreaked smart phones. They are an attractive target for attackers since they are as vulnerable as traditional computers, alleges the company.
Symantec concludes that the iOS offers improved access control, provenance/origin of applications and encryption. Android offers better application isolation and access control based on permission is tied. Steve Jobs’s company also comes out with best protection against malware attacks, service attacks, data loss and attacks against data integrity.
Safety in smart phones is a growing challenge that manufacturers need to treat and large-scale attacks may end up having a bad effect on the popularity of these devices, says Wood.