iOS 7 Fixes Power Adapter Hack, Android is Vulnerable to Trojan Application Threat

Is iOS better than Android in security? Apple’s readiness to fix bugs and Android’s vulnerability to certain threats may lead one to believe that.

A power adapter security flaw has been discovered in iOS devices. The security threat, called Mactans has been explained at the Black Hat 2013 conference. The threat comes in form of a charger that needs to be connected with the power adapter of the iOS device. The charger is really a small BeagleBoard Linux computer, which inserts malware into the system.

A researcher name Billy Lau discovered the threat. In his own words,

“This hardware was selected to demonstrate the ease with which innocent-looking, malicious USB chargers can be constructed. While Mactans was built with limited amount of time and a small budget, we also briefly consider what more motivated, well-funded adversaries could accomplish. Finally, we recommend ways in which users can protect themselves and suggest security features Apple could implement to make the attacks we describe substantially more difficult to pull off.”

After the threat was found, Apple authorities said that the flaw had been fixed in iOS 7 Beta. Tom Neumayr, Apple’s spokesman thanked the researcher who found the flaw. He said,

“We would like to thank the researchers for their valuable input,”

Apple users could now feel relieved as a major security threat is now patched up. Android users however, are not that lucky. Very recently, A mobile security firm called Bluebox discovered that 99% of Android devices are vulnerable to a trojan application that can modify the .apk file without breaking the cryptographic signature.

The threat is present in majority of Android devices which use Android 1.6 or higher versions. Surprisingly, Google authorities didn’t announce how they are going to reduce this security threat in upcoming Android versions. Android 4.3 firmware is out and Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie is slated for release. Google is tight lipped on whether these versions will also suffer from this threat and what preventive measures will be taken to enhance the security.

So, from Apple’s readiness and Google’s indifference, it seems iOS is more secured than Android.

Disclosure: Images are taken from Google Images