The blog’s are exploding with one short quote that Sundar Pichai has made about Android. Before I get any further, read the quote below.
We cannot guarantee that Android is designed to be safe, the format was designed to give more freedom. When people talk about 90% of malware for Android, they must of course take into account the fact that it is the most popular operating system in the world. If I had a company dedicated to malware, I would also be addressing my attacks on Android …
While his quote makes a bold statement, especially the part where he says that he would be addressing attacks on Android if he had a company that made malware. We have to remember that no operating system is completely safe. Google sacrifices a little bit of security to give a little bit more freedom to the user and developers. On the other hand, Apple tends to guard it’s OS and platform with almost an iron fist. But Apple’s iron fist approach doesn’t always work either. Just go back and read some of the news stories that have hit the web recently. The SSL issue inside iOS and OSX (though they have both been patched). No one is immune to malware, Apple’s ecosytem has a few more screws holding it down than Google’s but at the cost of user choices and developer creativity. Google gives you more choice and developer freedom but at the cost of possible malware issues.
I’m an iOS user and I prefer Apple’s iron fist rule, I think it leads to less instances of malware and issues (doesn’t wipe them free). But Google’s Android OS is the most popular mobile OS out there and that’s part of the reason Sundar says he would address his attacks on Android. The bottom line on any mobile OS….or any OS for that matter is this. Don’t download stupid stuff. Easy right? Just be aware of what the apps permissions are, be aware of the websites you go to. Just be responsible with your stuff and you’re likely to never see malware on your Android or iOS device.
Sources: 9to5 Mac and 9to5 Google
Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
