A cybersecurity company found that 71 percent of Android users on major US carriers are easy targets for hackers.
Most Android phones are don’t have the latest security patch — despite efforts by Google to distribute software fixes monthly via phone carriers — researchers at Skycure found.
Chances are, your Android phone would be easy pickings for hackers.
That’s according to research released Thursday by cybersecurity company Skycure , which found that 71 percent of Android phones on the five major US carriers haven’t been patched with the latest security updates.
The report highlights the risks posed by not updating smartphones, and the challenges Google faces in delivering security updates to Android users.
Why should Android users be worried about staying up to date on their security updates? In the hacking world, security updates show bad guys all the ways that phones, computers or other devices can be compromised. For example, an Android security update in December patched a flaw nick-named “Dirty Cow” that could have let hackers get root privileges — essentially the keys to the kingdom — on an Android phone.
So if you don’t (or can’t) update, hackers can build tools to break into your phone.
