The Pwn2Own competition just wrapped up at the CanSecWest security conference, and Google emerged as the ultimate victor. Not only was Google Chrome the only browser that could stand up to a hacker’s might, but Android was also the only smartphone to absorb the beating those brainiacs tried to give it.
I used the tag “irony” on this post due to the huge Droid Dream scare that had everyone and their pet dragonflies questioning Android’s security. We’re not sure what methods to try and crack Android were used and we’re not clear on the details of how a hacker can go about their business. (We’re also not sure which platform they hacked – Droid Dream was ineffective against devices running Android 2.3+.)
Android’s supposed strong security hasn’t exactly translated to a clean end-user experience with dozens of applications both outside and inside of the market able to execute malicious code on a handset. Although Google has a damage control feature they elect to employ in situations like that, the malicious code has to be found and reported before they usually take action.
Google is said to be making even more changes to ensure outbreaks like this don’t happen. (Or to make sure they can’t affect anyone.) We’ve already seen this in security updates to Android 2.3 – those with that version of Android were not at all vulnerable to Droid Dream. Let’s hope they make some changes to how they handle the market to ensure security remains the least of our concerns regardless of which platform version we’re on. [IBTimes via Android Community]