I wasn't necessarily trying to say that malware on Android isn't a problem, but rather asking whether it actually is in the real world. <snipped> However, I still question how big of a problem it actually is in real life.
Well, I would ask you at what point a malware problem on Android (which you agree exists) becomes a problem in the real world?
What is your yard stick?
Identity theft is recorded millions of times a year, primarily occurring through Android. Millions of dollars have been stolen through text messaging. To my mind, the fact that the later issue is primarily a Russian problem doesn't make it any less relevant to the discussion of security on Android, but you seem to think otherwise and I'm not sure why.
And just to show how you can find an article on the Internet to back up whatever you want to believe, check out
this and
this and
this.
Absolutely! IMHO all those articles are primarily click bait! Not because they are wrong, but because any computer system can be infected. The fact that this is also true of iOS doesn't make iOS worse or better than any other mobile OS. Ultimately, we can't even fully trust security companies, because it is in their best interest to exaggerate the malware threat potential. So, yes, the media exaggerates the danger.
Still, there is a huge gap between what security companies world wide are reporting (hundreds of new Android viruses monthly, millions of security breaches annualy) and the idea that malware doesn't affect us in the real world. There certainly is a gap between coverage and the actual threat potential, but IMHO it isn't that large.
On a side note: security companies really have no choice but to claim "the world is ending". It's almost the only way you can get anybody's attention these days. If they were to approach this entirely rationally, calmly and by the numbers, nobody would give a damn or even listen until half the U.S. population's bank accounts were emptied. Of course, society would then blame the IT industry for not having warned anyone adequately. That's just human nature.
It was interesting that I didn't find anything indicating that any kind of malware was ever found on WP8# Microsoft must be on to something here# Again, at this point I'm sure the negligible market share plays a part in that..
Yes, WP is definitely "protected" by its market share, just as the Mac once was. Strictly speaking, WP has yet to prove itself under fire.
But also consider this: a security breach occurs in two stages, the infection and the actual attack. Infecting an Android device isn't much easier than infecting an iOS or WP device (a difficult feat on any platform). The real differences are in the attack opportunities offered by Android, once successfully infected. The Android philosophy, that the users software should be able to do anything on the users device, is a malware writers wet dream. For that reason alone, Android will remain the primary target for malware, even if iOS and WP were to catch up market share wise.
My point is that while market share is a very important factor, it isn't the only one that determines which platform gets targeted.
If you app requires no permissions, then there isn't anything it can possibly do to be malicious in terms of functionality. Anything that needs permission to access your contacts though, for example, will be sure to set a red flag during submission so that the code gets checked thoroughly.
While true, we shouldn't take that as being a perfect line of defence. Android supports the
exact same mechanisms, yet some malware still manages to get through the cracks. It will be no different for WP should it become a more interesting target. The difference between WP and Android is not so much in the permissions system itself, but what those permissions actually allow an app to do once granted.
). And I can say that I'm on team file manager! Let me explain why, someone did point out that a file manager type facility should be there to download files and re-attach files to emails on the move, and that is one the many situations where it is definitely needed! Another is due to windows weird storage issues, the problem I am facing is that, I have a 32 GB external card installed. But despite that I am constantly out of memory only because videos i pre-load for watching on metrotube or books that I've bought in kindle and audible ALL load onto my phone storage taking up it's very limited 8gb(-1.9 gb) space. This requires me to constantly delete and re-load them to constantly make space. I am wasting time and DATA doing this regularly. Now if only there was a file manager type facility ( while I do understand apps need to be contained and run in their secured environments but some ability does need to be given to us to move non executable files to the external storage cards!!) I could move the files out of the app data storage (in my phone) to the external storage devices! Now before I get stupid responses like 'get an android' I will say I love my windows phone and OS but it definitely is not perfect!! and this is a very basic and genuine need I don't understand why it is so controversial. I want to free up space in my phone's storage and move stuff to my external storage, plus what about transferring videos downloaded to my pc/laptop? I can't even see those videos on windows explorer.............
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