Android Is Now as Safe as the Competition, Google Says (cnet.com)

In an interview with CNET, David Kleidermacher, Google's head of security for Android, Google Play and Chrome OS, said Android is now as safe as the competition. From the interview: That's a big claim, considering that Android's main competitor is Apple's iPhone. This bold idea permeates the annual Android Security Report that Google released Thursday. "Android security made a significant leap forward in 2017 and many of our protections now lead the industry," the report says on page one. Echoing the report, Kleidermacher told CNET that Android flaws have become harder for researchers to find and that the software now protects users from malicious software so well the problems that used to leave users exposed to bad actors aren't such a big problem anymore.

Comments

How can this possibly be true?

[Teckla]

Given the ridiculously short amount of time Android devices get updates -- including devices from Google itself -- how can this possibly be true from a realistic viewpoint?

Re:How can this possibly be true?

[dbialac]

But is Android safe from Google? Spyware is spyware.

Re:How can this possibly be true?

[thebullshitpatrol]

not to mention the fact that submitting to the appstore requires 10x more effort because there are actual standards, code review, and testing to enforce.

Re:How can this possibly be true?

[thegarbz]

But is Android safe from Google? Spyware is spyware.

So? I don't need it to be safe from Google. They have shown to be trustworthy with my data. Google has yet to ransomware me, max out my credit card, steal my identity or do anything else with the ludicrous amount of data they have on me other than serve me ads.

Where are the permissions logs?

[javaman235]

Why can't I find a simple view in Android of what apps have accessed permissions and when? (mic, camera, GPS etc) Also, apps request such general permissions... Access to drive I grant for apps that need to save files to drive, but does that mean it can upload my photos to weird app developer?

Android needs more transparency on these things to build trust.

Re:Where are the permissions logs?

[orient]

DTEK by BlackBerry does exactly this. Plus it can alert you when an app tries to access a certain resource (microphone, camera). Plus it can allow/deny access to each resource individually, unlike Google's all-or-nothing approach. Even if you grant all permissions when you install an app, when the app tries to actually access any resource (camera, microphone, address book, local files etc.) you get a prompt to allow or deny access to each of the resources requested. And, yes, it comes installed on the Android BlackBerry phones. I don't have another Android phone, so I can't tell of it's only available for BB phones or not.