Security Flaw In Android Web Browser 59
r writes "The New York Times reports on a security flaw discovered in the new Android phones. The article is light on details, but it hints at a security hole in the browser, allowing for trojans to install themselves in the same security partition as the browser: 'The risk in the Google design, according to Mr. Miller, who is a principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators in Baltimore, lies in the danger from within the Web browser partition in the phone. It would be possible, for example, for an intruder to install software that would capture keystrokes entered by the user when surfing to other Web sites. That would make it possible to steal identity information or passwords.'"
iPhone weak like other smartphones? (Score:5, Interesting)
"Unlike modern personal computers and other advanced smartphones like the iPhone, the Google phone creates a series of software compartments that limit the access of an intruder to a single application."
The iPhone is very compartmentalized. That is why there is no cut and paste - all apps are limited to their own directory. Anyone that has jailbroken an iPhone is familiar with how one app can NOT access data in another apps directory unless permissions are changed.
Anyone else know more about this comment? It is true for WinMo smartphones - no perms at all, but I am pretty sure that the iPhone does not apply. Is this just a dig at apple?
Re:This would be an easy fix... (Score:4, Interesting)
so true. you have to wonder what cellular networks would be like if they were not closed proprietary infrastructure.
of course there are the obvious things like:
but there'd be other less-obvious indirect benefits, such as:
this may seem like a pipe dream right now, but it might happen if wireless access internet becomes a basic public utility like roads and sidewalks. VoIP services like Vonage are already stealling business customers from conventional telecoms because of their competitive pricing. old business models will no longer be viable in the information age as closed proprietary specialized communication networks are assimilated by the open and public internet, which is a generalized communication network that can serve the needs of telecommunication, radio broadcast, TV broadcast, etc.