Google reveals fistful of flaws in Apple's iMessage app

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

Some OEMs lied about the update, not all of them. If you buy a google phone, the patches will be fixed within a short period of time. 

And how many people own Pixel devices? Here’s a hint, it’s not many. Meaning that millions of people are left unprotected while their phones OEM sticks a finger up their cornhole. 

[Faisal A]

@Zando Bob Wikipedia

[Faisal A]

@DrMacintosh You buy an Apple product at a premium price, but you don't get no security. Buy a cheap pixel instead. Same security, lower price

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Blademaster91 said:

Sure you might be able to get more out of an iPhone but I don't live near an Apple store to get the battery replaced and i'd rather Apple not slow the phone down without telling me after a year or so.

They do tell you now, you can disable the throttling if you'd like as well. It'll tell you your battery's health and once it hits a certain level, let you choose whether to throttle or not. 

 

 

[DrMacintosh]

2 minutes ago, steelo said:

What the hell are you even talking about?

The basic reality of Android? You’re telling me that you deny that having dozens of OEMs causes inefficiencies in publishing software updates and security patches? 

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, Faisal A said:

You buy an Apple product at a premium price, but you don't get no security. Buy a cheap pixel instead. Same security, lower price

This is literally a lie. 

[Faisal A]

@DrMacintosh Google patches their phone as soon as they discover a vunrability. Apple does the same, but they both get Viruses. Why are you paying a premium price ?

[Faisal A]

@DrMacintosh Google doent have insufficiencys in publishing or what ever. A google device is cheaper

[Zando_]

7 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

@DrMacintosh Google patches their phone as soon as they discover a vunrability. Apple does the same, but they both get Viruses. Why are you paying a premium price ?

Because they like iOS, Apple typically supports it's devices a lot longer (my 6 Plus was in a lot better shape software wise when I stopped using it than my S6 was and the S6 came out after the 6 Plus), and Apple is pretty good at patching stuff. 

12 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

@Zando Bob Wikipedia

Were those all currently active malware for iOS or have those vulnerabilities been patched? That's also a list from 2009 on up, a pretty long timespan. Here's what's supposed to be a list of current threats on Android: 

 

EDIT:

 

Here's their current list for iOS: 

[Faisal A]

3 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Because they like iOS

So apple does this for no reason then ? They advertise security. Surely no one buys an iphone for security, right ?

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Faisal A said:

So apple does this for no reason then ? 

-snip-

What? Looks like an ad to me, I assume the reason is marketing. 

[Faisal A]

@Zando Bob Exactly, people buy iphones for security, not just ios

[Curious Pineapple]

6 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Because they like iOS, Apple typically supports it's devices a lot longer (my 6 Plus was in a lot better shape software wise when I stopped using it than my S6 was and the S6 came out after the 6 Plus), and Apple is pretty good at patching stuff. 

Were those all currently active malware for iOS or have those vulnerabilities been patched? That's also a list from 2009 on up, a pretty long timespan. Here's what's supposed to be a list of current threats on Android: 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Here's their current list for iOS: 

 

There's also several times more Android devices out there than iOS, then there's the Android based OS's which don't get advertised or branded as Android.

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

There's also several times more Android devices out there than iOS, then there's the Android based OS's which don't get advertised or branded as Android.

That’s not a defense. 

[thechinchinsong]

When Apple gets accused of bad security but patches flaws after a couple days/weeks while Android vendors literally not issuing OS updates or even security patches for months due to laziness. SMH.

[Zando_]

Just now, Faisal A said:

@Zando Bob Exactly, people buy iphones for security, not just ios

That's... one of the features of iOS. People buy iPhones because they're a hypebeast and need the brand image, or they like iOS and are comfortable on it. iOS typically features better privacy and security than most versions of Android OEMs offer. Sure Google may be good at patching their specific devices, but what if I hate how they look and get a device from someone else, is that magically just as secure? iPhones have an advantage in that they're consistent. If you buy an iPhone you have an iPhone, it acts just like other iPhones. Depending on the age it's faster or slower, but any iPhone that runs iOS 12 currently behaves just like and is on the same level of security as every other iPhone. Androids fluctuate wildly depending on who you buy them from and what ROM you're running. Android has a ton of stuff it can do that iOS cannot, but that doesn't make iOS and iPhones garbage, just like it doesn't make Android phones garbage. All depends on what a person values in a phone and what they're willing to give up in exchange for something else. I passed on the freedom and fun of a very tweakable OS because I like the keyboard, notification center/control center, and settings app on iOS better, and like how Apple consistently supports it's devices for a pretty long time compared to many other OEMs. 

 

2 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

There's also several times more Android devices out there than iOS, then there's the Android based OS's which don't get advertised or branded as Android.

Yep, that's a security advantage iOS devices currently have. The potential "victim pool" for hackers is a lot lower and iOS is a lot more locked down so exploits aren't as common. People can find them if they look for them like Google just did, but people tend to exploit it less because the payoff is lower and they're usually rapidly patched out (a big issue for the jailbreak community, every time they find a way to jailbreak the OS, Apple patches that out). Linux has enjoyed a similar time, it's not as popular and the users are generally more knowledgable so there's been a lot less malware pushed out for it. The effort to exploit it isn't worth the payoff when there's easier pickings to be had. If iOS, macOS, and Linux had a massive majority market share, people would be working harder on making malware for it. 

[Blademaster91]

29 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

@DrMacintosh You buy an Apple product at a premium price, but you don't get no security. Buy a cheap pixel instead. Same security, lower price

Yeah the pixel devices are pretty good imo, a great camera, stock experience,years of updates which unfortunately isn't the same for every phone brand, but with more people being on Android devices of course more flaws are going to be out there for Android.

4 minutes ago, thechinchinsong said:

When Apple gets accused of bad security but patches flaws after a couple days/weeks while Android vendors literally not issuing OS updates or even security patches for months due to laziness. SMH.

That is down to the OEM's unfortunately, with 100's of phone models you can't expect them to update tons of different hardware configs right away.

[DrMacintosh]

8 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

you're literally using the "OSX has no viruses" method of measurement here ._.

Tbf, security by obscurity can be a thing. 

[thechinchinsong]

1 minute ago, Blademaster91 said:

Yeah the pixel devices are pretty good imo, a great camera, stock experience,years of updates which unfortunately isn't the same for every phone brand, but with more people being on Android devices of course more flaws are going to be out there for Android.

That is down to the OEM's unfortunately, with 100's of phone models you can't expect them to update tons of different hardware configs right away.

Thats true, but even their older flagships lag behind in software. Again, even if one can't expect faster updates from Android, that doesn't mean Apple isn't better with iOS. Many people don't care WHY something happens (or doesn't), they just care that is does.

[Curious Pineapple]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Yep, that's a security advantage iOS devices currently have. The potential "victim pool" for hackers is a lot lower and iOS is a lot more locked down so exploits aren't as common. People can find them if they look for them like Google just did, but people tend to exploit it less because the payoff is lower and they're usually rapidly patched out (a big issue for the jailbreak community, every time they find a way to jailbreak the OS, Apple patches that out). Linux has enjoyed a similar time, it's not as popular and the users are generally more knowledgable so there's been a lot less malware pushed out for it. The effort to exploit it isn't worth the payoff when there's easier pickings to be had. If iOS, macOS, and Linux had a massive majority market share, people would be working harder on making malware for it. 

Exactly, there is hundreds of millions of Android based devices out there. Some are plug and forget devices like TV sticks, kids tablets, set-top boxes and random home devices. Many may be old versions of Android so whilst the rather long list of vulnerabilities may be accurate, how many are for old versions that are no longer supported, but included as the OS is still in use? Many Android users also root their devices so that suddenly opens the floodgates to security issues, many will be a non-issue on standard locked-down hardware.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Exactly, there is hundreds of millions of Android based devices out there. Some are plug and forget devices like TV sticks, kids tablets, set-top boxes and random home devices. Many may be old versions of Android so whilst the rather long list of vulnerabilities may be accurate, how many are for old versions that are no longer supported, but included as the OS is still in use? Many Android users also root their devices so that suddenly opens the floodgates to security issues, many will be a non-issue on standard locked-down hardware.

So you just gave me a list of reasons why many, many Android devices are less secure than the average iOS device as an argument that they're more secure? 

[Curious Pineapple]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

So you just gave me a list of reasons why many, many Android devices are less secure than the average iOS device as an argument that they're more secure? 

In the same way choosing a Caterham over a Fiesta is more secure as more Fiestas are stolen per year.

[BuckGup]

49 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Sure you might be able to get more out of an iPhone but I don't live near an Apple store to get the battery replaced and i'd rather Apple not slow the phone down without telling me after a year or so.

That’s a horrible argument that has been resolved years ago. You can simply turn the option off but then your phone might turn off randomly even if it’s at 13% or 20%

[Zando_]

7 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

In the same way choosing a Caterham over a Fiesta is more secure as more Fiestas are stolen per year.

Same reason sticks in America are more secure, they're harder for people to use so they tend to not be stolen very often. There's a lot of reasons to prefer a newer automatic car over my dad's '88 Foxbody, but you can't tell me stick shift foxbodies are stolen just as often. If you're gonna compare security on Android vs iOS, but then say iOS is less secure because it's hacked less because there are less iOS devices, that doesn't make sense. 

[steelo]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

The basic reality of Android? You’re telling me that you deny that having dozens of OEMs causes inefficiencies in publishing software updates and security patches? 

As of late, Apple has had their fair share of security problems. Don't pretend that Apple products are not susceptible to security glitches or hackers looking to exploit them.