Quote:
Originally Posted by Deskisamess
Wouldn't running such an outdated version of Android be a security issue?
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It depends on what you do.
I have an assortment of Android devices, running Ermine, Jellybean, KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow. I don't lose sleep about security.
Granted, mine are all tablets, not phones. (Okay, one technically
is a phone, but I don't use it
as a phone. It's a WiFi equipped PDA with a serviceable camera.) Because they are tablets, they are
not always connected to the net. They are generally connected via WiFi only to check email or check for app updates, and that normally happens from behind my router at home. The rest of the time they are used offline in local mode, dealing with locally stored data. An example is the Google Nexus 7 in my signature. Its purpose is to be an eBook viewer, with eBooks from a library managed by Calibre and placed on device through it.
And you are at the mercy of your device vendor about whether you
get security updates. Some (especially "budget" devices) don't get them. Whatever came with your device is what you are stuck with. Your options are to get a newer device with more recent Android version, flash replacement third party firmware to your device, or live with what you have. And replacing the original firmware requires there to
be replacement firmware, and an device where you can unlock the boot loader to do the replacement. Whether replacement firmware exists depends. If you device is a popular one, someone may have created it. If not...
Ultimately, you practice Safe Hex. Android is a Linux system under the hood. As such, it doesn't get viruses, because those essentially don't exist for Linux. It
can get malware. So you do the same things you might do on a PC. Be aware of where you are and what you are doing. Don't visit chancy websites. Be careful about what you open in email. Only install software from known good sources. I see a lot of calls for assistance elsewhere about Android phone problems, and many of them have me biting my virtual tongue and
not saying "That's what you get for being stupid" because the poster did something like install a cracked commercial product to avoid having to actually pay for it. The crack included malware along for the ride.
Ongoing releases of Android have become progressively more "secure", but that comes with its own trade offs. A lot of the security measures can be classed as "protect the user from their own stupidity, by not allowing them to do things they might find useful because they might be compromised if they do it wrong." As an example, the first thing I used to do with an Android device was to root it. A reason for that was to remove vendor bloatware I didn't want but was installed as
system apps that could not be removed by ordinary methods. More recent Android versions have removed the vulnerabilities the "one click root" solutions used to get root on device, and the alternative is replacement firmware, if extant.
Ultimately, Android security is a special case of a broader concern. Devices are tools. It's on the user to learn to properly
use the tools. If they don't, problems that occur because they were ignorant are
their problems, and their responsibility. Deal with it.
______
Dennis