Android malware has jumped up 472% since July

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  • Reply 81 of 136
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    android malware can 'just show up' on your phone. . . .



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    no one said 'surprise' why are you adding that now? learn to read.



    I added the word "surprise" because you indicated it "just shows up", as tho it wasn't requested, thus a surprise. That is what you meant to imply wasn't it? If not then your post was poorly worded IMHO. Really no matter tho and no need to let it upset you. Just trying to clarify things.
  • Reply 82 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    I added the word "surprise" because you indicated it "just shows up", as tho it wasn't requested, thus a surprise. That is what you meant to imply wasn't it? If not then your post was poorly worded IMHO. Really no matter tho and no need to let it upset you. Just trying to clarify things.



    they can just show up. if i send you a sms or email it just 'shows up'. you didn't go looking for it.
  • Reply 83 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    rules are of value as intelligence drops. the stupid need rules to guide them. the wise do not.



    I'm trying, intelligence, stupid, wise. I think you are mixing things up here. Wise people implement rules. Foolish people follow them without challenging them. However foolish people say we don't need rules. Good rules are perfectly fine. Rules should however never be regarded higher than the purpose it is serving. Even Steve Jobs who, by his own admission, is not "fond of rules" was wise enough to implement them.



    Wise people are not wise all the time. Therefore you will need perfect people in order not to need rules. Rules are not only necessary to provide a wrong and right but also to judge those that offend them.



    But maybe you should think it through a bit more before you write such a statement.
  • Reply 84 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    I couldn't find any malware in your link that uses email or SMS for surprise infections. They all look to be delivered via fake applications that a user purposefully downloads and installs.



    no, you said 'surprise infections' i said 'they just show up'. i didn't say they 'just show up and infect you.'
  • Reply 85 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacShack View Post


    I'm trying, intelligence, stupid, wise. I think you are mixing things up here. Wise people implement rules. Foolish people follow them without challenging them. However foolish people say we don't need rules. Good rules are perfectly fine. Rules should however never be regarded higher than the purpose it is serving. Even Steve Jobs who, by his own admission, is not "fond of rules" was wise enough to implement them.



    Wise people are not wise all the time. Therefore you will need perfect people in order not to need rules. Rules are not only necessary to provide a wrong and right but also to judge those that offend them.



    But maybe you should think it through a bit more before you write such a statement.



    no. it is fine as it is written. you are free to debate it however.
  • Reply 86 of 136
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    no, you said 'surprise infections' i said 'they just show up'. i didn't say they 'just show up and infect you.'



    No problem since we seem to agree that Android malware generally requires the cooperation of the user and isn't a drive-by infection. It's not unlike the recent wave of malware targeting Mac users which also required the user to approve the installation.
  • Reply 87 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    No problem since we seem to agree that Android malware requires the cooperation of the user and aren't a drive-by infection. It's not unlike the recent wave of malware targeting Mac users which also required the user to approve the installation.



    yes. users will be users no matter the platform...lol
  • Reply 88 of 136
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    No problem since we seem to agree that Android malware requires the cooperation of the user and aren't a drive-by infection. It's not unlike the recent wave of malware targeting Mac users which also required the user to approve the installation.



    It's good thing for Android that most users use their devices as feature phones never installing a single app over the device's 3 month lifetime.
  • Reply 89 of 136
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    It's good thing for Android that most users use their devices as feature phones never installing a single app over the device's 3 month lifetime.



  • Reply 90 of 136
    Why is it sooooo hard for some people to call a spade a spade and just admit that Apple was right, and iOS is the most secure mobile OS on the planet? This is not a technical argument, it's a results argument. Whatever the method, there appears to be zero malware for iOS (unless you jailbreak), so therefore it is a success. Is it really that painful to give credit where credit is due?
  • Reply 91 of 136
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mytdave View Post


    Why is it sooooo hard for some people to call a spade a spade and just admit that Apple was right, and iOS is the most secure mobile OS on the planet? This is not a technical argument, it's a results argument. Whatever the method, there appears to be zero malware for iOS (unless you jailbreak), so therefore it is a success. Is it really that painful to give credit where credit is due?



    It's not that iOS is inherently more secure than Android. It's that the "walled garden" that it exists within keeps most malware at bay. A jail-broken iDevice running iOS can be infected as easily as one running Android.



    Keeping the approved interactions with iOS devices limited to Apple-moderation certainly allows iPhone and iPad users a higher level of comfort if they're concerned about malware. I suspect it never crosses the mind of most who stay to the official app markets for the platforms.
  • Reply 92 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    It's good thing for Android that most users use their devices as feature phones never installing a single app over the device's 3 month lifetime.







    Good one. But you forgot the smilies.





  • Reply 93 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    [...] An August report from McAfee found that Android had become the most-targeted platform for malware while iOS was untouched.



    That's enough to convince corporate IT to go with iPad. Android's malware problem, fragmentation, and shaky legal standing all add up to a big zero in enterprise.



    Apple Insider story on iPad's 96 percent corporate market share: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...work_with.html
  • Reply 94 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mytdave View Post


    Why is it sooooo hard for some people to call a spade a spade and just admit that Apple was right, and iOS is the most secure mobile OS on the planet? This is not a technical argument, it's a results argument. Whatever the method, there appears to be zero malware for iOS (unless you jailbreak), so therefore it is a success. Is it really that painful to give credit where credit is due?



    Everything you say is true.



    But it is only half the story. In exchange for getting only vetted software, you give up the ability to install other capable software that the device manufacturer does not approve of.



    That works perfectly OK for lots and lots of people. The game console manufacturers use that model.



    But it is not OK for a lot of people who want to have a tiny general purpose computer in their pocket.



    So iOS is most certainly very, very secure. But in exchange, you couldn't, for example, use the volume rocker to take pictures in Photo + (or whatever). Or have your apps in folders at first, or a bunch of other things. You still can't for example, repurpose a portion of your storage on the device as mass storage for carrying around random data.



    To call a spade a spade, as you seem to prefer to do, would be to keep both sides of the equation in mind, and to choose whichever you prefer.
  • Reply 95 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    To call a spade a spade, as you seem to prefer to do, would be to keep both sides of the equation in mind, and to choose whichever you prefer.



    Well said.
  • Reply 96 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz View Post


    You do realize you've created a strawman right?



    ...



    Could Google gain a lot by adopting some stricter controls? most likely.



    Could Apple gain a lot by easing up a bit? most likely.



    Are they both doing fine as they are? Yes.



    Is this entire malware thing blown out of proportion? Definitely.



    Can you clarify how Apple (or iPhone customers for that matter) could gain if Apple "eased up a bit"? Specifically iPhone customers since I don't much care if Apple gains or not. Please be specific about the ways in which Apple could ease up and how these measures would directly benefit iPhone users.
  • Reply 97 of 136
    I think, first, it is important to understand that all the phones are in a "walled-garden" to some extent when you are running someone else's OS (iOS, android, symbian, MS) as are all computer programs at this point and probably for the foreseeable future since they are all code based.

    A little negative proof hopefully will clear this up:

    Can you on any platform run a program that does not conform to the code inherent in the OS? No.

    You must craft the code to follow the programming that enables the phone itself to run.

    For instance can I build a mobile app in fortran and then run it it directly in iOS or Android? No.

    Those gardens don't understand the language and therefore don't provide the framework to enable the app to run let alone install. The whole API aspect supports this point as well.

    And both the Android and iOS gardens are huge. There are probably incredibly few (likely less than one in a billion, 7 in the whole world) who have walked every square foot of either garden and the perimeters. If these people exist, more likely they did not find that there is absolutely no way to do things they wanted. The challenge, which is more likely what they sought in all this searching, is figuring out how to do so within defined parameters. This is what Gates, Jobs, the google guys, were driven by within the bigger garden, since they each still operate in the larger computer garden as began with Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace n the 1830's. They have cultivated new plants in different parts of the garden and put up little fences to keep some other plants out, but still in the bigger garden. Sometimes they argue who planted a new shrub, cross-bed different flowers, or stole seeds which were sometimes carried on the wind of change or the pockets of gardeners, but they were all trying to make something that others would come in and enjoy, find useful, while limiting the amount of trampling a public can easily muster.

    Second, anarchy is

    • a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority

    Android is not anarchy, nor is IOS the opposite. Why because the phones do as you, the user in your specific garden, tell them to do, not other way around. (see above)

    They don't randomly execute tasks in a non-consistent fashion e.g. hitting the answer call icon does not sometimes answer the phone call and other times open a browser, the last game played, install an app, etc. It always is tied to answering the call, as the software code (rules) dictates this must be the action. On the other end, the OS does not make you answer the call, force you to take a call you want to ignore, install updates you don't want.

    The differences between OS's are much more subtle. There are differences in implementation however. iOS seems to approach the situation from a lessons learned incorporated up front while android has a more individual learning model. Both have merit at times. The ancient greeks debated this spectrum and most would agree that there are some experiences that don't need to be tried to know the outcome e.g. converting all text, code, writing in my phone permanently to hexadecimal will be problematic to efficient function, while others are less serious e.g. installing obscure russian porn apps developed by Vlad the Rich Pillager, are certainly for the more curious and risk-tolerant. Depending on where your risk meter is and what you need and expect the phone to do and the amount of time you are willing to wager on retracing steps is more a determination of personal positional at your current moment. This is why some people upgrade their OS (on a phone or a computer) immediately and others remain with an older version despite the new features.

    With more being done on phones, many will see its efficiency as paramount, like companies dealing in financial transactions need failure rates to be outside of six sigma standards (less than a 0.000001 chance of failure), and other companies may see the need to be able to try some thing new in order to develop a new niche or market. Others, many probably, are still experiencing the new technology much as children do a new toy i.e. attracted by the attention given to it by other children, the sights and sounds and things it does, and without any explicit purpose other than to play with it. Each position is inherently right for their own reasons, but sometimes marketing, that attention of other children, can lead to someone not having the phone they want. And that is when the wailing begins that every adult wishes they could mute.
  • Reply 98 of 136
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by russgriz View Post


    Can you clarify how Apple (or iPhone customers for that matter) could gain if Apple "eased up a bit"? Specifically iPhone customers since I don't much care if Apple gains or not. Please be specific about the ways in which Apple could ease up and how these measures would directly benefit iPhone users.



    IMO, Apple has already eased up considerably.



    It used to be that every couple of weeks there would be a gaffe like axing an app containing caricatures by a Pulitzer winner, or whatever.



    I haven't heard about anything like that lately.
  • Reply 99 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    Lifestyle creation is an old, and seemingly very effective marketing and branding tool.



    The dancing silhouette iPod commercials, for example, were all about that. The Pepsi Generation was all about that. I'm a Pepper. The Most Interesting Man in the World drinking some brand of beer.



    All similar (but with many other aspects thrown it too, for maximum message), and AFAIK, all very effective.



    I don't necessarily disagree with most of what you wrote, but here's the problem. You're taking products that hold so much of our lives, our photos, movies, emails, personal info, etc., devices that are often the starting point for our social and work lives, devices we use to communicate with friends and family--and you're trying to compare that to Pepsi or beer?



    Lifestyle marketing may be a tried and true hook and Apple clearly knows how to take advantage of that approach, but the flaw in your logic is assuming that's all there is to it. Consider how personal the product is that you're talking about. Hell, even the iPod becomes a statement about your life and your personality by virtue of the fact that it's filled with stuff you like. Computers and mobile devices like music players and phones and tablets are tied in to your lifestyle and trying to criticize them on that basis is missing the forest for the trees. Apple may use the same marketing tactics a car or beer company uses, but that doesn't put those products on the same level and it doesn't mean someone is shallow or falling for marketing hype for viewing it that way.
  • Reply 100 of 136
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by estyle View Post


    I think, first, it is important to understand that all the phones are in a "walled-garden"





    Redefining the term does not satisfy anybody who dislikes the Apple way of doing things.



    Call it a Rose. Call it a Spade. Call it a Walled Garden.



    Or don't. It really doesn't change anything.



    And just in case you thought otherwise, RDF techniques never work in writing. They rely on the victim's inability to detect the flaw and to issue a good comeback. People can sit and think about stuff when it is in writing, so they are not flummoxed so easily.
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