Why Apple's iPhone Might Be the Most Hacked Mobile Device Apple's immense popularity apparently has its drawbacks.
This story originally appeared on Business Insider
The same platforms which helped give Apple its rise have also contributed to its rising vulnerability.
This month, web security company SourceFire issued a report called "25 Years of Vulnerabilities" that charted the Critical Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) of various software and mobile devices.
A CVE is "the international standard for vulnerability numbering or identification" security companies use to chart exploits.
In the report, the company previously known for its near-impenetrability looks like its debut platform, the iPhone, is also its most hackable.
Sourcefire detected 210 CVE's, compared to Android's 24.
But it could also just be the popularity.
From the report:
While one may argue that the increase in CVEs is due to the increased popularity of the phone over the years, Android, the current market leader for mobile phone operating systems, has actually received fewer CVEs in 2012 than it did in 2011, even though it had explosive growth in market share.
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ZDNet's Ellyne Phneah talked to Yves Younan, senior research engineer at SourceFire's Vulnerabilities Research Team and author of the report, who said that the combination of popularity and invulnerability of Apples iTunes with the sheer consumer share of iPhone mobile devices led hackers to focus on penetrating the device.
From ZDNet:
With Android devices, cybercriminals see less reason to look for vulnerabilities to penetrate smartphones, he added. Android's open platform already easily opens up for third party and malicious apps to be easily created for users to download, he explained.
