iOS is more secure than Android, according to research

Symantec have published their latest findings after putting both Google Android and Apple iOS through a series of security tests. According to their claims, iOS is more resilient against three out of five types of threat, which include data loss and malware.

The security firm also claim that social engineering attacks and web based attacks were evenly matched on both platforms. Symantec also say that the OS security implementation is stronger on iOS.

While this looks bad for Android, they did add that Google's OS has a better system in place for isolating security problems, once they are found. The issues appear to be based around Google's open platform procedure towards application development. iOS developers have to pay to register with Apple, meaning they get vetted beforehand, whereas Android developers are much more free to create dodgy and dangerous software. A problem which has reared its head for Google in recent months, when they had to step in directly to move malware from the store.

Symantec said “Google does not appear to perform a rigorous security analysis of applications posted to its Android Marketplace. This means that malware authors can distribute their apps through this distribution channel with less likelihood of being discovered.”

The findings would be verified with problems over the last 6 months with hackers trying to control devices via malicious code. In February for instance 58 legitimate applications were cloned with fake code to steal personal details from the end user.

While the results would highlight that Apple is a safer platform, the interesting aspect of the report is that Symantec have found more vulnerabilities in iOS than Android. 200 compared to only 18 in Android, although there is no malware which has yet to exploit them.

Symantec added “While [Apple’s] vetting approach is not foolproof, and almost certainly can be circumvented by a determined attacker, it has thus far proved a deterrent against malware attacks data loss attacks, data integrity attacks and denial of service attacks.”

Kitguru says: Apple may very well use this research to start closing the potential vulnerabilities.

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