Important privacy change coming to Android devices

By Kirsten Doyle for ITWeb
Tuesday, September 21, 2021

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Developers will also be able to ask the user to prevent the system from resetting their app's permissions, which Google says is useful in cases where users expect the app to work primarily in the background, without necessarily interacting with it.

A game change

Ilia Kolochenko, founder of ImmuniWeb and a member of Europol Data Protection Experts Network, describes this move as a game-changer for all the unwitting Android users who have granted permissions to mobile apps that don’t need them, or even to malicious apps.

“Many millions of non-technical users are tricked to grant dangerous permissions to adware apps or even installing malicious applications and then grant all existing permissions that may lead to a full compromise of the device,” he explains.

Although Android 10 and 11 have put many novel privacy features in place to protect users from malicious apps, numerous devices are still running obsolete versions of Android that have either basic or no protection at all. “The problem is especially widespread in less developed countries where, however, mobile users use their devices for payments or other sensitive operations.”

Kolochenko says many mobile security experts believe that iOS is more secure by default, particularly considering its vigorous policing of the App Store, application vetting and restrictions to install apps from untrusted sources.

“The new Android feature will foster the race towards stronger data protection and privacy-by-default, hopefully motiving Apple to bring even more advanced privacy features in the near future.” Read Full Article