Is Android Less Secure Than iPhone? Um, No.

14.01.2011
One can only hope that security software provider Trend Micro saw a nice sales boost after the of its chairman earlier this week that Android phones are more vulnerable to hacking than iPhones are. If it didn't, those blatantly self-serving statements were made for nothing.

After all, they're certainly not true. Not only that, but they were made immediately after the company launched its brand-new security software for Android. There's no way that was a coincidence.

The statements were, however, a classic example of the that's so often resorted to by companies that earn their bread by instilling fear in the hearts of computer users. Microsoft's recent was one example of such fear tactics used for profit; now, Trend Micro's little threat is another. Who needs enemies when you've got "friends" like these, working to steer you away from free and open source software and toward their expensive products?

Lest anyone get fooled by the dramatic headlines, let's take a cold, rational look at Android vs. iPhone security.

'Security Through Obscurity'

"Android is open source, which means the hacker can also understand the underlying architecture and source code," is what Trend Micro's Steve Chang originally told Bloomberg Businessweek.