When BlackBerry CEO John Chen was asked to clear up the rumors about working on an Android phone, he said the company builds only secure phones. A few months later, the Priv was released, bringing BlackBerry’s quintessential experience, in terms of productivity, privacy and security, to Android. Since then, the Canadian firm has worked hard to keep up its security commitment, and in a recent blog post, it detailed how it does that.
Making the Priv secure by rapid patching
BlackBerry’s industry-leading platform assisted in safeguarding the Priv from rooting and other alternative vulnerabilities. The exclusive DTEK app gave people the ability to manage their privacy. Also there was this essential ingredient: a commitment to systematically roll out security patches as fast as they become obtainable, said the blog post. BlackBerry has delivered on its patching promise by releasing fixes every month in sync with Google’s own Nexus device and releasing patches many weeks and months ahead of other Android device makers.
But a question that arises here is why these patches are not available for all devices and platforms. Late last year, researchers from the University of Cambridge said manufacturers are to blame because most of them do not provide regular security updates. The researchers found that 87% of Android devices are vulnerable to attack by malicious apps and messages.
In May, a study by another researcher focused on a chain of exploits that would allow an attacker to take control of an Android phone. Regardless of the fact that Google had already issued a fix in January, the solutions provider, Duo Security, discovered that the vulnerability was present on 60% of Android phones. In addition, Duo Security demonstrated yet another serious attack just a few weeks ago that bypasses the phone’s full disk encryption.
Though Google patched the vulnerability months ago, Duo Security discovered that about half of ]Android phones were still vulnerable. Google and Android are certainly not to be blamed for these types of vulnerabilities as they have already demonstrated a commitment to releasing timely security patches, both on desktop and mobile platforms.
BlackBerry has delivered what it promised
BlackBerry’s Priv was not affected by any of these vulnerabilities.
“But more importantly, in situations where BlackBerry Powered by Android devices are affected, BlackBerry and Nexus users get first access to security patches, ensuring that they’re always protected with the most up-to-date security fixes,” the blog post reads.
BlackBerry users get to enjoy more privacy and security, and rapid patching in one of the reasons behind this.
“A secure Android device is what our CEO promised and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered,” the blog post reads.
