Trend Micro: Android More Vulnerable than iPhone

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Ntldr

January 12, 2011 at 3:07pm

The answer for this is very simple it is just like PC's getting more viruses than Macs.  The item that is the most popular is going to get hit.  If it is more widely used and adopted it will be attacked more. 

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for3v3rforgott3n

January 13, 2011 at 2:03am

It's definitely nowhere near as "simple" as you put it out to be. The most popular doesn't determine vulnerability. It's the speed in which the software is being patched, compared to the speed which new bugs/flaws are discovered. If the latter is faster, then there will be more prominent attacks. That's without putting into consideration the scale of the vulnerability, whether it's minor or critical to the system's well being.

Simply put, Trend Micro is attempting to use this to target one of the biggest prospects of smart phones and maximize profit. Read my earlier comment for a bit more input.

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popstop785

January 12, 2011 at 4:51pm

So based on that logic, RIM should be getting attacked the most, right? RIM>Android>Apple>Win7 Phone (I think)

So why are the Blackberry phones not getting any threats?

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LatiosXT

January 12, 2011 at 12:49pm

Aside from the marketing ploy here...

  • iOS is just a stripped down version of Mac OS X is it not? Apple has the core components of Mac OS X up on their website, so it's quasi open-source (but not FOSS, since if I read Apple's license right, you can do whatever you want, but it's still Apple's property). Hence shouldn't iOS be just as vulnerable?
  • What kind of viruses is iOS "invulnerable" to? That wasn't mentioned. What, the ones that can't show up on the App Store?
  • If Android is vulnerable, then Linux sure as hell is the worst OS in security since Android is based on Linux. And Linux is open source.

Although the man does have a point, there are a lot of rogue Android apps that people blindly ignore the security warnings and wonder why they've been texting 2000 times in a week. But this is a user issue, not an OS issue.

I should find a way to make money off other people's stupidity.

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Caboose

January 12, 2011 at 3:42pm

"I should find a way to make money off other people's stupidity."

http://tinyurl.com/akn9g this man beat you to it...

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LatiosXT

January 12, 2011 at 8:54pm

Touche.

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k.electron

January 12, 2011 at 12:18pm

Dude at TM doesn't know what he is talking. Android is a sandboxed OS just like IOS. TM just trying to make a quick buck on the accelerating android market share with their "anti-virus".

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for3v3rforgott3n

January 12, 2011 at 12:08pm

Sure open source allows people to have access to the underlying code, however, Android development and advancement is worldwide because of this. If anything, any bugs would be fixed much faster than Apple ever could, that's the magic of open source software. Who's ever heard of "viruses" on Linux? Surely that's just not a coincidence.

It's impossible to have a virus on an iPhone? Ever heard of the rickroll "virus"? Well, you probably wouldn't call that a virus, but how about the iLax virus? The lack of credibility in this post has made me very disappointed.

By the way, take a look at who those quotes were from. Trend Micro, the company attempting to sell a security application for Android. That's basically asking tobacco companies if smokes are harmful.

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deadsenator

January 12, 2011 at 5:03pm

I don't disagree with the meat of your post, but the Rickroll was not really a virus and the iLax virus was just a prank.

Linux virii do exist, but are very few.  They tend to be worms and trojans or Apache/SSH related exploits.  They are pretty hard to get.

I agree with your sentiment about the article, though.

 

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for3v3rforgott3n

January 13, 2011 at 2:07am

yea I said in my comment that you probably wouldn't consider the rickroll a "virus". The point is these quotes from Trend Micro are definitely profit-biased and have next to no credibility.

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deadsenator

January 13, 2011 at 12:32pm

But it was tough to guage from your post whether you truly believed there were no Linux virii and that RR/iLax were actually real.  That's all.

 

I would honestly like to see MPC avoid posting these types of stories.  Or at least in the tone they are presented.  It's almost as if they are advertising for TM.

If they were more critical and called TM out for their obvious BS, then I am okay with that.

 

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skirge01

January 12, 2011 at 11:10am

"Android is open-source, which means the hacker can also understand the underlying architecture and source code"

Of course!  We all know that Windows is the most vulnerable because it's open source, not because of its popularity and market penetration.  Oh wait...

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TechJunkie

January 12, 2011 at 11:00am

Apple itself is a virus. Just look at what they've done to our youth! Turned them all into apple fritters that worship a god known as SJ and are brainwashed beyond repair! Bad enough that Trend Micro can't even squash!!

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EchoFive

January 12, 2011 at 10:36am

Nonsense.  Everyone knows what OS Apple uses: Unix.  Just like android.

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deadsenator

January 12, 2011 at 4:49pm

BSD based, but yes you are not too far off.

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Caboose

January 12, 2011 at 10:29am

I call BS until there are actual, 3rd party studies performed by a group that is not associated with any of these "security" companies, or Google or Apple.

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