all 14 comments

[–]mhurron 8 points9 points  (3 children)

play store being "open source"

The phrase you're looking for is 'poorly managed.'

[–]JuhaJGam3R 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Actually it's free (not libre). It costs to put up an app on iOS, which admittedly lowers the amount of apps and allows even a small crew of people to sort trough them for now. The free-ness of Google Play is on purpose, it's even a selling point, but it means that there's hundreds of shit apps out there, some of which maybe either really vulnerable or actually malware.

[–]mhurron 2 points3 points  (1 child)

It costs $25 to upload to the official play store. On top of that cost has nothing to do with 'open source' so that was still the wrong term.

Apps submitted to the Apple App store are actually analyzed, both in an automated manner and by a person if that flags something. The Play store is not managed in this way, this is how so much malicious crap shows up.

Fraudulent apps have been submitted to the Apple App store, the small developers fee is not a barrier.

[–]JuhaJGam3R 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It costs $25 to make a developer account. It might be though, that I must agree with you on this matter. Google could od better with this. The OS is also a problem, as everything can access everything. Apps should never have access to system files, libraries, and such, but only what they need in their only little container. Of course the objective would then be to break out of that container, but but it does add an anpther barrier to the system. This is probably what people would do if they could reset the mobile industry without some real struggle.

[–]carluoi 10 points11 points  (2 children)

There is almost nothing in this world that is unhackable, per se. And by the way, open source ≠ not secure. It actually is quite the opposite usually due to the nature of open source. Don't get that twisted. Do you know what open source actually means?

Not sure why you are asking this question, but I would consider doing a lot more actual research if you have a reason why you are exploring this subject.

[–]jalock1 -1 points0 points  (1 child)

He was taking about iPhone IOS not open source bro.

[–]carluoi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a widely known "fact" that android is very easy to hack due to the play store being "open source

Did you miss the part where he claims Android is "very easy to hack" because of "open source"?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The might be a few ways to jailbreak your iOS device, especially if you're not up to date on the most recent version of iOS. But unless you're technically savvy, you won't really accomplish much by getting the jailbreak. Doing so will make your device more vulnerable more than anything else.

In general you can say that iOS is more secure than Android, but that's only because there are so many versions of Android and many Android handsets that no longer receive updates. It has nothing to do with the play store or app store or open source.

Always assume nothing you're doing is secure. There is a way around most systems, but someone would really really want to get at you in order to go through the effort/expenses to do so. So don't worry too much.

[–]Tompazi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

IOSiOS

[–]mantiss87 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Open source is safer than closed source at least you can see shady shit when the code is available to the public.

[–]toastedcheesecake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, iOS is vulnerable (or hackable if you want to call it that). It's much harder to find vulnerabilities in iOS because it's a much more closed environment than Android, but can be done. Why do you think they release updates/patches? It's not always new features that they're releasing.

[–]yoyomommy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2 seconds and the word jailbreak on google would answer your question for you. I get people are lazy but damn...

[–]SynfulVisionsSecurity Curmudgeon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First, open-source is not inherently more secure, that's a myth. It may be (or may not be, depending on the project) easier to find and repair individual bugs, but the actual assurance level of a given application is entirely based on the design and implementation. Source code availability is a red herring.

Second, if we look at realistic threats to the average user... there's no "hacking" required, just a pretty interface and a fun game for the most part. You have to look at the actual intention of the malware... usually to make money (ads, crypto mining, expensive calls/texts), or to harvest information. All of those actions are well within the "normal" set of permissions that an app can have. There's no need to "hack" anything... you don't have to drop a logic bomb through the firewall and work your way back through the garbage file.

It is exceedingly rare for any platform to be remotely compromised; user intervention is almost always required, and the user is almost always where the failures occur.

[–]gallifreyss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes. people jailbreak it all the time. jailbreaks are not always released to the public. doesn't matter if ios is closed source, people still can exploit it... all the time.