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Some Android Device Makers Are Lying About Security Patch Updates (phonedog.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Security patches for smartphones are extremely important because many people store personal data on their devices. Lots of Android phones out there get regularly security patches, but according to a new report, some of them are lying about the patches that they've actually gotten. According to a study by Security Research Labs, some Android phones are missing patches that they claim to have. Wired explains that SRL tested 1,200 phones from more than a dozen phone makers for every Android security patch released in 2017. The devices tested include ones from Google, Samsung, Motorola, LG, HTC, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Nokia, TCL, and ZTE. The study found that outside of Google and its Pixel phones, well-known phone makers had devices that were missing patches that they claimed to have. "We found several vendors that didn't install a single patch but changed the patch date forward by several months," says SRL founder Karsten Nohl.
This is because Google won't write a universal Android unlocking tool... As long as the unwashed masses can't really tell what the manufacturer did, why bother with anything difficult? ........There's a name for it...... Security through Deniability?
Isn't it a crime for a company to tell such blatant lies to the public? Can't customers sue the companies for endangering their sensitive data? Is the no regulatory oversight for this?
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
until the current crop of devices are bought and used up, or recalled and destroyed, i dont want to buy another PC,. laptop or a phone or tablet until all this heartbleed, or meltdown (the CPU bug) is resolved,
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I sort of just did...
I had a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It's a better phone in almost every way to any phone on the market today. (processor is a hair slower than the newest phones, but I'd never found it slow at all, and it's hardware feature set was so far beyond any other device you can buy now as to more than make up for it) But it also hasn't had a security patch in a long time, and several high profile security exploits have come out since the last one. As a result I decided to "upgrade" to a new phone. I miss the large screen on the Note4 (all the new phones quote larger numbers for screen size, but due to the 2:1 aspect ratio have fewer square inches, and less usable space as it's too narrow). I miss the IR transmitter on the Note4, I miss the removable battery (I was on my 3rd battery, something not possible on modern phones), I miss the MHL video output (very few phones have any wired video output capability anymore, despite that it used to be near ubiquitous) I miss the textured back that didn't require a bulky case to simply be able to hold on to.
But I also knew that I couldn't reasonably hold on forever with the vain hope that someone releases decent hardware again some day.