How secure is an anderoid tablet?

[Doug Dastardly]

Hi Guys,

 

There's obviously heaps of techie knowledge on the forum as can be seen on other threads so I thought I'd give this a try.

 

Having given the GF a Asus transformer pad for chrimbo, we're wondering how secure they are?

 

A normal pc would always have antivirus and firewall so does an aderoid operating system need it for shopping, online banking etc?

 

There must be millions doing this now on phones and tablets, so is it safe? or are they just living in blissful ignorance?

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Doug

[SteveD]

depends where you leave it ,just dont leave it in view anywhere , keep it safe in a draw or bag or just keep it in sight and you should be fine  oh and insure it  

[Blatman]

Depends on your level of paranoia. I think Apple and Android users will be being targetted *because* (especially Apple users) like to claim they don't need anti virus or anti-malware protection so are possibly less likely to secure their devices. There has been a big increase in malware infected apps and widgets in both the Google Play store and iTunes such that I now don't really trust any free apps that seem to be too good to be true.

 

Many of the usual security vendors are producing Android AV and firewall software. I say, why not? It can't do any harm.

 

I'd still avoid doing my banking or gathering emails or using Facebook etc in public places even with AV and firewall software running. I believe it is possible to session hijack these connections irrespective of what operating system is in use as the traffic is all TCP/IP which is the same universally. Using wifi you are susceptible to "man-in-the-middle" attacks as well as session hijacking. Google those two phrases. I guarantee within 5 minutes you'll be locking the doors and switching off your computers! It isn't as bad as the scared people make out, but there is also no such thing as guaranteed security.

I know banks and many other web shopping sites and web email vendors use encryption to further prevent session hijacking and they do make it difficult, but not impossible to crack.

Pay attention to that padlock sign and the HTTPS at the start of the web address too. Many websites secure and encrypt the login page then fall back to a non secure page once the session is initiated. This means the information is very vulnerable. Keep an eye on that padlock symbol!

[Onliest Smeg David]

We use Avast Antivirus on our Android devices.

It's has good reviews and doesn't appear to impact on operating speed.