A study was conducted on understanding the vulnerability of Android by the University of Cambridge, and results reveal that 87.7 percent of Android devices are vulnerable.
Out of ten devices, it is calculated that fewer than nine devices are exposed, showing the risk faced by the Android market. The study conducted by Andrew Rice, Daniel R Thomas, Alastair R Beresford and Daniel Wagner named Security Metrics for the Android System analyzed numerous mix and match of Android devices. It revealed problem that the updates were not proper after the purchase of the Android handsets. This does not cover a detailed study on all Android vulnerabilities but was restricted to few. Only 11 vulnerabilities were taken for the study.
Android Vulnerabilities can be better understood detailing with 32 weaknesses. Main problem resulting in such issues are security updates. According to Forbes, only few phones are getting benefitted by security updates, as many are sold on one to two year warranty and tons of smart phones do not get the security updates leaving it unpatched. The same reason makes devices highly vulnerable to hacking and similar threats.
The operating system getting attacked by malicious exploits and vulnerabilities are none other than the one operating system that established itself well in the world. This increases the surprise quotient even more. Android devices are the most used technology nowadays, and it is the right time people needed steps to take in protecting Android devices.
Google, on the other hand, provides a monthly update on security trying to keep the Android vulnerabilities to its minimum.