[Quarrelsome]

> Stupidity or malice, the result is the same

Yes but whether we attribute the intent to stupidity or malice is important as per the general health of our thought process. Its likely laziness combined with malice when its noted. I imagine a dev getting up in arms about package size and then when the issue is raised its not given high priority because someone twigs the convenient side effect. That's the worst case. Either way the mindset of paranoia is warped and self centred. Its not because they're thinking of forcing you to upgrade its more because they're _not_ thinking of you and instead the wide-eyed new sales opportunities that ship with greater disc space.

> I keep hearing this, but what's the actual presence of malware on Android?

oh wow, you're gonna play this game? I could tell you that its perfectly safe to trace the outline of a cliff with your feet and in many, many cases its going to be absolutely fine until the one case where the earth gives way and its not.

Let me put it this way; when I see the tagline:

> there are over a billion outdated Android devices

my first thought is:

> what's the most effective exploit to tap into that market?

the existence of security flaws encourages action and the hubris of not updating is the clarion call to those that exercise the exploits.

> I'd say your exposure to malware on Android is far less than it is on PC

This. What is this? This is complete conjecture. Get out of here.

[virgilp]

> my first thought is:

> > what's the most effective exploit to tap into that market?

So??? What is it? Do let us know.

I'd venture to say that the fragmentation of that market makes it reasonably secure. Just like how the average router is incredibly insecure, and yet you don't advise people to avoid e-banking and just deal with their money in paper form and through face-to-face contacts.

Yes, you are technically right. But @quanticle is right, in practice: unless those users do some very stupid shit, they're pretty safe doing ebanking on their phones. (and those who do the "very stupid shit" are likely to do it on their computers, too)

[quanticle]

Where are the Android LSASS worms? Or Android SQL Slammer? Or Android ILoveYou? Or Android NotPetya? Or any one of the literally hundreds of well-known malware strains that make the news every time they infect a few million PCs? Malware on Android certainly does exist, but the fact that Android has been out for this long, with this many outdated devices, and we haven't seen a single mass infection yet means that Android isn't as easy to exploit on a mass scale as people make it out to be.

I'm not claiming that Android is safe. Nothing is safe. But it does security professionals no good to be alarmists. If we cry wolf about literally every technology that ordinary people use, the result is not people giving up technology. The result is people ignoring security professionals.

If an ordinary user came to you and asked, "Where should I do my banking? On my phone or on my PC?" what would your answer be?