Software vendor Coverity produce analytical tools for finding bugs in source code. Their flagship product Coverity Prevent has even been used by the military. Recently the San Fransisco based company have turned their attention to the Linux kernel that underlies all Android phones and found a series of errors that could lead to potential security risks in the HTC Droid Incredible and say that these bugs are more than likely to be found on most Android handsets.
With all the fuss that has been made over security and dodgy apps recently it is probably time to lay to rest some of the scaremongering that I’ve been encountering on some sites. Firstly all operating systems have flaws that could potentially allow hackers to compromise the system and its data. This has always been the case and always will be . Apple and even Blackberry have had to fix a whole bunch of security issues on their phones. That’s right, even Blackberry.
It is Coverity’s business to find errors in code and they are yet to find a single system that was flawless and probably never will. With many medium sized businesses switching to Android from Blackberry for price reasons its a good thing that the kernel has come under such scrutiny and with Android becoming such a big player, Coverity simply had to put it under their microscope.
Although the public will have to wait a couple of months to find out exactly what these flaws are, Google have been told and will no doubt be working on a fix as we speak.
The discovery of these holes by Coverity is good news and no reason for alarm. There will always be errors in any modern computer and there will always be hackers out there looking to exploit them. Companies like Coverity are fighting a war against the cyber criminal and making our phones as safe as is possible and the biggest security risk any of us can take is to mistakenly think that our phones are invulnerable.