After what was a big scandal in terms of security flaws in the Android platform, Google opted to change its philosophy and send monthly security updates to cell phone software. Although a large number of smartphone manufacturers say that it is very difficult to keep smartphone software updated constantly and choose to omit those security patches, Google has gotten tired and has given these companies an ultimatum, demanding updates frequently.
Therefore, after the announcement made during the Google I/O event, the company will now request that OEMs send security patches frequently to their smartphones. David Kleidermacher, Google’s head of security for Android, clarified:
“When you have billions of users, it’s a huge goal and, then, you have to have a defense as strong as possible.”
In the words of David, this new agreement between Google and OEMs that use the Android platform will help more users to have the latest security patches playing on their smartphones. What will allow the company to deal only with minimizing the weaknesses in the core of the Android system, leaving aside the problem of the derivations of an outdated software that is established in thousands of smartphones.
And The Companies Will Publish Periodic Android’s Updates?
Despite the possibilities offered by the announcement made by David, there is a problem that has not yet been resolved. As the Head of Security specifically announced that the previous agreement was made only with “some manufacturers”, but did not specify which companies are that will be part of this intensive improvement in the security of the Android platform. Similarly, we are facing the new update of Android, the latest Android P Beta program, which clearly is a sign that the company is making significant improvements and working to comply not only with the demands of users. So surely this new requirement will not be an inconvenience for them and can be easily solved.
In turn, companies such as Vivo, OnePlus, Sony, Oppo, Nokia, and Xiaomi already have the latest version of the Android P Beta market. Which indicates that Google’s latest deal with these manufacturers could incorporate a clause with this new requirement of Google. But at the moment we are still not clear how often these security updates will be sent to smartphones. It is also unknown if Google also made an agreement with the largest manufacturing company of phones with Android platform, Samsung, who is known for delaying the delivery of security updates and perform them in a specific quarter of the year.
For the moment, we hope that the coming of Project Treble to all the smart devices that are sold with Android Oreo, can make things much easier than they are today.
SOURCE GIZCHINA
