The 13 Most Vulnerable Smartphones Of 2011, Ranked By Bit9

The Internet security experts at Bit9 have put a twist on their annual mobile security study. Rather than focusing on the least secure applications, the company decided to examine which smartphones are most vulnerable to malware exploits and hacking attempts.

Researchers looked at the most popular mobile devices on the market and identified which were the most vulnerable.
According to the study's findings, Android handsets are the most at-risk devices. "56% of Android phones in marketplace today are running out of date and insecure Android operating system software," the study explains. Among the most frequent offenders were Android devices from HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung.

Old software leaves devices vulnerable to security breaches and exploits corrected by new software updates. In a press release emailed to The Huffington Post, Bit9 wrote that Android handset manufacturers "often launch new phones with outdated software out of the box, and they are slow to upgrade these phones to the latest and most secure versions of Android. In some cases, the phones are not updated at all, as the manufacturers shift their focus to newer models, leaving existing customers stranded with insecure software."

The Android platform is currently the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. Gartner's most recent report on the global smartphone market found that Android powers over 50 percent of all smartphones sold. Google recently announced that it has activated over 200 million Android devices worldwide, as reported by BGR. In the United States alone, 43 percent of the market belongs to Android, according to Nielsen's third-quarter 2011 report.

As the world's leading smartphone platform, Android has also become a favorite target for hackers. Security researchers at Juniper Networks announced earlier in November that Google's OS is experiencing a "malware epidemic." Malicious software affecting Android phones has grown more than fivefold since July, researchers said.

View the slideshow (below) to see the 13 most vulnerable handsets, as ranked by Bit9. Then, read on to see the 12 apps panned by Bit9 in 2010 for having lax security.

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Comments

[n boynton]

11:03 AM on 12/07/2011

Wow. So much spiteful and nasty comments towards one another and nothing to do with the article. Grow up or take it somewhere else, some of us are here to educate ourselves and possibly help another reader. Your "Geek-Off" though mildly entertaining, is unnecessary ...

[mel2000]

11:38 AM on 12/02/2011

According to the article, those listed smartphones are most vulnerable due to lack of Operating System updates. It would have been useful if the article informed us of the latest OS versions considered safe.

[Jennifer Malcom]

07:49 AM on 11/29/2011

Well, I don't do anything important with my EVO, so if they want to hack it, go right ahead. I don't even go on the internet with it, and the passwords aren't even mine, since I bought it used and can't seem to reset them! GRRR! There is absolutely NOTHING on my phone that anyone would want! Then again, they probably see my car and the way I dress and figure that out! I'm not stupid enough to do any banking on my phone (stupid, stupid, stupid!), or buy anything with my phone (equally stupid), and my internet usage is almost nil.

[Tanker10a]

06:48 AM on 11/27/2011

I have had my iPhone 4 since its initial release. I have never known of any malware issues to date. Alternatvely I keep my iPhone under Passcode Lockdown. I've purchased all my Apps exclusively from the iTunes Apps Store.
So what's the problem?

[DJMarian]

08:53 AM on 11/27/2011

The problem is that you can't read.

[SoulOfWit]

11:51 PM on 11/27/2011

Actually, there is no mention of Apple, iOS or iPhone in the article. I only see it in the slide show.

[StinkyPete0279]

08:44 PM on 11/27/2011

If you don't know about them, they can't possibly exist!

[MB1East]

10:31 PM on 11/26/2011

Did people even read the article? What's with all of the posts complaining about physically broken phones? Yes, the image in the article is of a cracked glass screen, but the article is about malware - your phone being broken into via software. Let's all take a deep breath, read all seven of the little paragraphs, and then make sme intelligent observations, Google's Android is sort of like the new Windows- a very open system, and the most popular, making it a target for hackers.

[NerdyStudent]

11:00 PM on 11/27/2011

If only Windows were actually as open as you suggest...

[poster1122]

05:39 PM on 11/28/2011

Windows and Android are open in two key senses:

1. They are licensed for use on different hardware platforms and are not tied to a single hardware vendor.

2. You can chose to install whatever software you please on them without making any special effort. Apps don't have to be approved by a central authority in order to be widely distributed.

#2 is what makes Apple fundamentally more secure. The bulk of people get their iPhone apps from iTunes. To get an app onto the store, authors have to first identify themselves and get their software reviewed and approved. This is more problematic for malware writers but also gives Apple arbitrary power to decide what can and cannot run on your device.

[RaceCondition]

06:10 PM on 11/26/2011

Interesting that there aren't any WP7s on this list.

[Pete59]

04:20 AM on 11/27/2011

I wonder who paid for the research?

[NotBob]

03:43 PM on 11/27/2011

For the same reason there are no Blackberries on the list. Bit 9 did not study them because of their low market share.

[SanityWillPrevail]

04:33 PM on 11/26/2011

Watched the OU - Iowa State game on my iPhone. OU won in a blowout. Brings Iowa States back down to earth after their fortunate win over Oklahoma State.

[DJMarian]

09:11 AM on 11/27/2011

Oklahoma State lost the game more than Iowa won it.

[MikeyG]

03:40 PM on 11/26/2011

This is all so much BS designed to sell antivirus software, propagated by the big players in the field. If you stick to the official Android market or the Amazon market you will be fine. If you decide to go out of market and install apps from anywhere else (which Android gives you the FREEDOM to do) then "you takes your chances". The vast majority of the malware that these companies are breathlessly warning about are only available in foreign and one-off markets and web sites.

[MrVee]

01:09 AM on 11/27/2011

Keep believing that.

[Pete59]

08:37 AM on 11/26/2011

Two things are missing from this story.

1) who paid for it.
2) any evidence.

[MrVee]

01:07 AM on 11/27/2011

Bing is your buddy and Google is your friend. Thousands of articles on the dangers of running an older android OS. Not to mention the inherent dangers of running an OS put out by unknown people at XDA.

[Pete59]

04:17 AM on 11/27/2011

No! Articles on Google or Bing are not evidence, they are articles. Where does the statement "Malicious software affecting Android phones has grown more than fivefold since July" come from, it is referenced to another article on Huffingtonpost and that is referenced to Juniper Networks, but where did they get it from and why do all these articles lack actual numbers, instead we get percentage increase. So is it that there was one piece of malicious software and now there are five or where there millions. I do not own a smart phone so I don't care about the malware, what I care about is press releases reproduced as fact.

[Dalton Perry]

06:06 AM on 11/26/2011

The iPhone 4 should definitely be #1. Why on earth would you design a phone with both front and back glass panels? Four days after buying my iPhone 4, I dropped it. It fell maybe 14 inches, but shattered the front screen and cracked the back panel. Yes, it was my own stupid fault, but what phone these days isn't expected to be dropped from that height or higher sometime during its life. It wouldn't have been such a big deal to replace it, but they adhered the glass screen to the touch screen underneath. So instead of buying a $5 glass face plate, I had to cough up $200 for a touch screen/glass faceplate combo. Just another one of Apple's tactics to squeeze ever last penny they can from you, while being the least consumer friendly tech company out there. I have sworn to never buy another Apple product again.

[Brasstack]

10:41 AM on 11/26/2011

Don't they sell protectors? After shelling out the bucks for the phone I wouldn't carry it without a case.

[Dalton Perry]

10:21 PM on 11/26/2011

Yes, mine was in the mail when the incident happened. It was my fault I dropped it, but there are materials available that could withstand the fall that mine suffered. Does Apple really believe that their iPhone will never be dropped 14 inches? I now have a great case that has saved my iPhone countless times. The glass front screen I can kind of understand, but there is no excuse for using glass for the back plate. It adds absolutely no features and is extremely fragile.

[tonrunner]

02:52 AM on 11/26/2011

Woooooohoooooo!! I didnt make this list for once. Yay.
If you are on this list...sorry.

[DJMarian]

09:18 AM on 11/27/2011

That's because your phone is so lame it didn't even get reviewed. It's not a list of the most vulnerable phones, it's a re ranking of reviewed phones put in order of security issues.

[tonrunner]

09:27 PM on 11/27/2011

wow. you really got me with that one.....over my phone. I love the HTC Evo 3d. its the best phone ive ever had.

[NerdyStudent]

11:03 PM on 11/27/2011

Apparently, we now have a six year old on the board, welcome DJ. Welcome to our home of happiness.

[elicourey]

10:25 PM on 11/25/2011

If you read the full report, you'll notice that the iPhone wasn't actually on the list. HP just decided to put it on there for some reason.

[WSAY]

12:04 AM on 11/26/2011

They probably figured the whiners would whine. Actually, the iPhone has hardened glass.

[Dalton Perry]

06:13 AM on 11/26/2011

"Hardened glass" BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

My iPhone 4 didn't even survive a 14 inch fall. The entire front screen shattered and the back cracked. The glass they make light bulbs out of is stronger than the iPhone 4 screen.

[NerdyStudent]

11:04 PM on 11/27/2011

Hey idiot, if you had read the article like you claim--you'd notice it isn't about glass or UI. It's about malware. Too different types of "breaking."

[NotBob]

01:25 AM on 11/26/2011

From the report:

However, the Apple iPhone 4 and older models received an honorary #13 on our list of top most vulnerable smartphone for two reasons:

• First, Apple does end-of-life its older models. The original iPhone, which released in 2007, cannot be upgraded to IOS 4 (available June, 2010) or later . The iPhone 3G, which released in 2008, cannot be upgraded to IOS 4 .3 (available March, 2011) or later . The good news is that Apple seems to support their devices much longer than Android manufacturers, but if you own an older model iPhone, you will not receive the latest updates .

• Apple does not release statistics on the breakdown of currently active iPhone models and iOS versions. It is fair to estimate that only a small minority of customers still use iPhones purchased three or more years ago . Nonetheless, it is important to understand that all
smartphones eventually reach end-of-life and no longer receive security updates .

• More importantly, prior to iOS 5 and its iCloud feature, you had to dock your iPhone to your computer in order to receive iOS software updates . Apple operating system updates were not delivered over-the-air . Since Apple does not provide statistics on how many users
dock their phones, we had to rely on third-party sources and some anecdotal data

[KarateKid]

08:54 PM on 11/25/2011

Open source means easy pickings for talented _hackers.

[NHBill]

10:30 PM on 11/25/2011

and not so talented ones.

[jsarets]

11:39 PM on 11/25/2011

...and easy fixes for talented _hackers. It works both ways. I've worked as a kernel developer on both open source and proprietary operating systems, and the Linux kernel code is immaculate compared to a lot of the code I encountered in the proprietary kernel.

Plus, the lower layers of iOS (and Mac OS X) are mostly open source from the Mach, FreeBSD, and Darwin/XNU projects. And the security issues with Android have little to do with the OS itself, but how the release cycle is propagated through the device vendors and network operators.

[KarateKid]

03:09 PM on 11/26/2011

Hey, all those terms you hit me with, give me a break. I just cauht on to Btw.

[Itsallderivative]

08:09 PM on 11/25/2011

So, basically all of them.

[wonderYrednow]

09:54 PM on 11/25/2011

Where there's a pill, there's a slayer.

[Mondayboy]

09:58 PM on 11/25/2011

There is no blackberry on the list

[Itsallderivative]

10:14 PM on 11/25/2011

What's a 'blackberry'?

[MIKEinNYC]

05:54 PM on 11/25/2011

Everything is hackable by a sufficiently talented hacker, of which there are plenty.

It stands to reason that Android, the most popular platform, gets hacked the most. Clearly the miscreants who do this want the most bang for their infectious buck so they program for the most popular platform out there. Right now that's Android. It's like being a counterfeiter; given that it takes exactly the same effort, would you fake $1 bills of $100's?

As far as the miscreants go, they who are found to ruin our machines and spy on us and send us unwanted commercial cr@ap, the main issue should be as to what manner of death to inflict.

[NHBill]

06:53 PM on 11/25/2011

It's the completely open wild west Android marketplace that is full of nasty apps.
Apple has a Sheriff on the beat and promptly removes anything evil.

[StinkyPete0279]

08:48 PM on 11/27/2011

ahahahahah
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45213777/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/apple-banishes-expert-who-exposed-software-flaw/#.TtLoRmMk6-U

"The Sherriff" only seems interested in removing anyone that embarasses them

[NerdyStudent]

11:06 PM on 11/27/2011

Says someone who obviously is speaking as a consumer, and knows nothing more.