
Ask HN: Why is Android plagued with malware when it's based off Linux? - vuyani
As I understand Linux has one of the most secure kernels, so what makes android so vulnerable?
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iraldir
One of the reasons linux is secure is that it's not popular with your standard
user. If it was more popular, hackers would be more insensitive to attack it
and users stupid enough to download stuff from unlegitimate website, click on
popup ads to download some porn game or whatever.

Android however has a very high penetration rate and its user are not all tech
savy. A lot of them or going to google thing like "game android free" and
download .apk willy nilly, giving them permissions without thinking.

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runjake
I think that the Linux kernel is reasonably secure, but it still suffers from
frequent vulnerabilities.

But to answer your question, I think you see a lot of Android malware for two
reasons:

1\. Android devices aren't usually patched with the latest security fixes.

2\. Most malware exploits the application frameworks that sit on top of the
Linux kernel. These frameworks aren't nearly as secure. And if an application
framework has a kernel-mode component where code can be executed? There goes
most kernel security protections.

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romanovcode
Malware is just software, wherever you can run software - you can run malware.

Reason why Linux desktops are considered secure is because regular users do
not use it therefore it reduces amount of malware being written for it.

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SE_Student
Because its the most used and therefore the most targeted. It doesn't have to
be considered %100 secure just because its linux, remember the early 2000s
with windows 2000 and XP and how they were also heavily targeted. things have
changed now of course.

same thing could happen to Mac OS X if it becomes more widely used (happened
already).

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thepapanoob
because most of the times the malware simply uses completly normal and fine to
use system api's to do what it wants to do. And for the deployment it simply
gets added to cracked apps or just fake apps in general

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NeoBeum
Because people store banking credentials on devices... on the flipside iOS has
issues too... ask Bella Thorne

