This security issue makes me never want to own an Android phone

• Android phones are by and large the most widely used smartphones on the planet, compared to rival iOS devices.
• However, a string of reports has surfaced in recent months identifying all sorts of security issues in Android smartphones, including the presence of sketchy and malicious apps hiding in the Google Play Store.
• A new report from Kaspersky identified an even more scary security issue -- the possibility that undeletable sketchy files and apps may be hiding in some Android devices.

Between all the security issues we keep having to report on -- like this new batch Android apps caught stealing peoples' Facebook login credentials, the relative ease and regularity with which dodgy apps seem to sneak into the Google Play Store, and now a new report that some Android devices may be hiding sketchy apps and files that are undeletable -- I'll probably never buy an Android device.

That latest bit of news we mentioned comes from the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky, which found that almost 15% of devices with identified malware over the past 12 months had their system partitions infected. "Our support team continues to receive more and more requests from users complaining about intrusive ads on their smartphones from unknown sources," the Kaspersky report notes. In some cases, the report goes on, "the adware plants itself in the system partition, and trying to get rid of it can lead to device failure. In addition, ads can be embedded in undeletable system apps and libraries at the code level."

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This security issue makes me never want to own an Android phone originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 9 Jul 2020 at 15:38:58 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.