Threats to the business use of mobile devices are real and exist across all elements of the mobile ecosystem. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), due to “the enhanced capabilities that mobile devices provide, the ubiquity and diversity of mobile applications, and the typical use of the devices outside the traditional network boundaries requires a security approach that differs substantially from the protections developed for desktop workstations.”
While there have been a lot of news-worthy events in the past couple of years involving corporate breaches, one thing has not changed. Users are still considered the greatest obstacle to information security. Whether it is phishing, opening infected attachments, or “just being stupid and lazy”.
Our focus in this article will be on the “stupid and lazy” part of this equation. We will take a quick look at the way users tackle mobile app permissions in the android market place otherwise known as Google Play. A cursory look at some apps on Google Play and the permissions required by these apps, and the ratings given by users, even to apps with seemingly over-reaching or meaningless permissions, explains a lot about why security will continue to be a problem for a very long time.
Is it just me or are mobile phone carriers being forced by Google to remove the local synchronization options from their offerings of Android devices? It seems that it is a lot more work syncing Android devices these days.
I have always used Nokia phones and that manufacturer provided the option to sync the data on the device with a local computer – laptop, netbook etc. Recent trends with Android devices are becoming troubling.
Google recently revealed that it had a malware scanner for the Android OS that automatically scans the code of apps uploaded to the Android Market. The service, which Google gave the codename of ‘Bouncer’, is said to look for behavior that are deemed unacceptable by the company. But the problem with Android Apps go beyond just scanning for malware.
