Security Got Worse for Linux and Android Devices

January 22, 2016
Kevin Lam

A couple weeks ago, I posted an article about how you could hack into any *nix system just by using the backspace key. Looks like another major vulnerability just became public. Here’s an article about a Linux kernel flaw that dates all the way back to 2012, which means if you’re running Linux kernel 3.8 or higher or Android KitKat 4.4 or higher then you’re affected. According to the article, that’s 10s of millions of systems that are affected.

So is the point here to throw pies in the faces of Linux and Android developers? Not at all, I think that once you accept that all software has bugs and evaluate them from the perspective of (1) what software solves my challenges the best (2) and what risks can you tolerate, you’re going to be well ahead of the game. If you’re still mentally playing the “Microsoft is insecure, and *nix and Mac OS are secure” game you’re in for a wake-up call soon.

–Kevin