As people use smartphones more and more it is crucial that the smartphone keeps being safe. Important is to distinguish the ways security could be compromised. iOS jailbreaks for example, are bad for third party app developers and Apple since it enables users to download apps for free. However, in this chapter we will look for the security issues that are bad for the user, not for the companies. As there is a restriction as to how much we can cover here, we will only cover some the most important issues: permissions, lighter browsers, unofficial apps, network spoofing and data density.
To prevent app developers from abusing the possibilities of the Android and iOS platforms, both Google and Apple have implemented app permissions to ask if users …show more content…
For example: While internet explorer - the biggest shareholder in internet browsers in 2010 - was safe supporting HttpOnly cookies, the Android browser at the time was not supporting HttpOnly cookies. To clarify the risk: hackers can sometimes inject JavaScript code into a website but when a cookie is HttpOnly it cannot be read by JavaScript. When there is no HttpOnly support none of your cookies will be safe and your account on the infected website might be taken over, which compromises your privacy. Long story short: a light browser version sometimes means more security vulnerabilities.
The use of 3G in smartphones also means more people are connected to the same radio tower. Compare this to a private WiFi network with a private router that only has to serve a few people. So this automatically means that if a tower is compromised it covers more customers who lose their privacy. And as this data is kept by companies like KPN you are in luck if you never live through such a hack. In the sources you can see a KPN tweet where they basically triumphantly say they store passwords in plain text opposed to hashing
To prevent app developers from abusing the possibilities of the Android and iOS platforms, both Google and Apple have implemented app permissions to ask if users …show more content…
For example: While internet explorer - the biggest shareholder in internet browsers in 2010 - was safe supporting HttpOnly cookies, the Android browser at the time was not supporting HttpOnly cookies. To clarify the risk: hackers can sometimes inject JavaScript code into a website but when a cookie is HttpOnly it cannot be read by JavaScript. When there is no HttpOnly support none of your cookies will be safe and your account on the infected website might be taken over, which compromises your privacy. Long story short: a light browser version sometimes means more security vulnerabilities.
The use of 3G in smartphones also means more people are connected to the same radio tower. Compare this to a private WiFi network with a private router that only has to serve a few people. So this automatically means that if a tower is compromised it covers more customers who lose their privacy. And as this data is kept by companies like KPN you are in luck if you never live through such a hack. In the sources you can see a KPN tweet where they basically triumphantly say they store passwords in plain text opposed to hashing