All The New Security Improvements In Android N

[Lucian Armasu]

Android security chief Adrian Ludwig enumerated all the security changes and new features that have been introduced in Android N in a recent Google I/O talk.

All The New Security Improvements In Android N : Read more

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

Ummm... this sucks? Anti-rooting and anti-reflashing "features"? Secure Boot all over again? Not looking forward to this release.

 

[Darkk]

For years I was using rooted cell phones and tablets but updating them became a pain so I stopped doing that. This allows my Android devices to be updated on it's own to keep it secure. Most cell carriers got the message of installing bloatware on their devices ever since we started to root and install custom ROMs.

Google still may let users root the phones provided given a warning of not having enhanced security features. Obtaining root may require a password that is unique to the phone and is given to the customer upon purchase.

 

[SillieAbbe]

Biometrics should not be activated if you are security-conscious.

It is now getting known that the authentication by biometrics usually comes with poorer security than PIN/password-only authentication. The following video explains how biomerics makes a backdoor to password-protected information.
https://youtu.be/5e2oHZccMe4

 

[LuxZg]

Yet still basics are missing - updates straight from Google, even if at least for the parts of the system, and FIREWALL. And a working system-wide backup. It's these 3 things that are most often reason for rooting as well, so it would take care of the 4th security concern by itself.

Myself, first thing to do with new Android is root it, and install Droidwall, and blacklist/whitelist apps acces to web via WiFi and/or cellular. Then install more apps. And when done with that, install Titanium Backup and/or Root Uninstaller to get rid of "system apps" I don't need. Now that "systen app" thing should also be a user managable, because I'm pretty sure that Baidu or Google search are neither needed by system to run and each phone, no matter the brand, always has at least few of these...

Now, all of these are way easier to implement then some features in N and M, and some have been solved by 3rd party tools for 6 years or more. There's really no excuse that modern OS doesn't have an user configurable firewall!!!!

 

[targetdrone]

Biometrics should not be activated if you are security-conscious.

It is now getting known that the authentication by biometrics usually comes with poorer security than PIN/password-only authentication. The following video explains how biomerics makes a backdoor to password-protected information.
https://youtu.be/5e2oHZccMe4

Not only that but it's a lot easier for Government to force you to give up your fingerprints than it is a password or pin.

 

[elho_cid]

Is the new Android cerificate handling good news for average Borat Sagdiev?

 

[Haravikk]

Not only that but it's a lot easier for Government to force you to give up your fingerprints than it is a password or pin.

The purpose of biometrics isn't security as such, but rather a trade-off between security (strong password) and convenience (not locking your device at all).

If the phone can be made to require a password on start-up, then you can use biometrics to lock/unlock it, and if the government wants your phone just make sure it's turned off (there are apps that can even do this remotely if you lose it or it's stolen), this way you force a fall-back to the strong password protection.

 

[captaincharisma]

For years I was using rooted cell phones and tablets but updating them became a pain so I stopped doing that. This allows my Android devices to be updated on it's own to keep it secure. Most cell carriers got the message of installing bloatware on their devices ever since we started to root and install custom ROMs.

Google still may let users root the phones provided given a warning of not having enhanced security features. Obtaining root may require a password that is unique to the phone and is given to the customer upon purchase.

and this is why i stick to nexus phones. nexus phone have pure andoid with no bloat, always first to get updates and they are unlocked right out of the box. they are easily rooted too, i still have a nexus 4 and currently am running cyanogenmod's version of Marsh mellow CM13 and it runs smoothly on it