In what has come as a shocking piece of news, at least to security experts all over the world, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced it would stop releasing its security updates for the Android Jelly Bean mobile operating system. This means the older versions of the Android, specifically Android 4.3 and earlier, will no longer be supported by Google, leaving its users vulnerable to hackers and malicious attackers all over the world.
The news comes as a definite shock for many Android users, who are still using the older version of Android due to many reasons. Android OS is the most famous mobile operating system in the world today, even in countries such as the US where Apple holds a dominant market share.
However, due to the flexibility Android OS offers, it has been well adopted by mobile brands such as Samsung and HTC, and because these phone companies sell cheaper priced phones compared to Apple, they hold the most market share combined all over the world.
Most Android devices currently operate on the Android 4.4.4 KitKat, which is the version of Android Google Inc. that was active before the company progressed on to Android 5.0 Lollipop (which has already been released for the Nexus phones and tablets).
However, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is still being used by almost a billion people all over the world (according to reports), which means almost a billion are being left behind by Google in a world that is full of hackers and malicious attackers, and where an OS simply cannot survive without direct support from the developer.
The particular component that is being abandoned is the WebView tool on the Android for which Google had been Google
providing timely security updates with intervals.
The WebView tool allows applications to display web pages within their framework without redirecting the user to any external web browser. Of course such a tool is also a favorite platform of hackers and malicious attackers to infiltrate the security of the operating system, because the tool allows links to open up without any barrier. However, the regular security updates by Google were deemed necessary by security experts in order to keep attackers out.
According to Tod Beardsley, who is the engineering manager at Rapid7, “WebView, for many, many attackers, is Android, just as Internet Explorer [Microsoft’s browser] is usually the best vector for attackers who want to compromise Windows client desktops.”
It is no secret that Android has come under attack many times by security experts all over the world, who have reported and highlighted many security loopholes in the Android OS software code. WebView, in this context, has always been Android’s Achilles Heel, and regular security updates have been deemed absolutely necessary in order to protect devices running the system.
For Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to abandon almost 60% of its user base is a shocking course of action, as termed by most security experts. Maybe the company wishes for users to upgrade to the latest Android OS so that it may fully focus on the development of the newer versions of the Android. Whatever the case may be, for the time being, the majority of Android users are at risk.