Owners of devices with older Android versions should be aware of the risk of hacker attacks: Google makes it official.
News for owners of Android smartphones and tablets: many of these devices could soon become prey to hacker attacks.
This is not a generic concern but a fact, as Google has expressly made it known that older versions of the operating system will not receive updates regarding adjustments for protection aimed at “closing” a specific security flaw well-known to developers and hackers.
The issue concerns the browsing browser, specifically WebView.
According to some experts, using other browsers eliminates the problem at its root, while other opinions suggest that one cannot simply change browsers, as WebView is still used by app developers.
This means that even when using certain apps, users could still face the same critical vulnerability.
Attackers could therefore exploit this vulnerability to access users’ personal data.
Despite the evident danger, why isn’t Google intervening to mitigate the damage?
The reason is quite simple: the Google team responsible for these matters has openly revealed that releasing updates of this kind would require operating on and rewriting as many as 5 million lines of code.
This operation is clearly considered too demanding, perhaps even uneconomical, yet it exposes too many users to very concrete risks.
This problem affects all devices running Android versions prior to Jelly Bean, meaning versions prior to release 4.3.
In effect, this concerns the majority of Android device users: it is estimated that approximately 60% of smartphones and tablets worldwide are equipped with these older versions.
Any further news or reconsideration from Google is awaited, although the official statement sounds very much like a final communication.
Be the first to comment