Nearly Half of Local Govt. Employees Use Old Android Devices - PCMag

Almost fractional of Android-based mobile phones utilized by US authorities and section authorities employees are moving outdated versions of the operating system, according to a revealing report(Opens successful a caller window).

Researchers astatine the cybersecurity steadfast Lookout analyzed 200 cardinal devices and 175 cardinal applications from 2021 up to the 2nd fractional of 2022 and recovered worrying statistic that mean millions of authorities devices are exposed to vulnerabilities that tin beryllium leveraged for attacks.

Lookout reports that 30% of national authorities and astir 50% of authorities and section authorities devices were not yet upgraded to Android 12 10 months aft its release. 

In fact, 10.7% of national authorities and different 17.7% of authorities and section authorities devices were moving Android 8 and 9, which were respectively unsupported arsenic of November 2021 and March 2022.

Lookout noted determination were 1,332 vulnerabilities successful Android 8 that attackers could exploit, compared to 423 successful Android 12. With older operating systems being unsupported, these are vulnerabilities that Google oregon Apple volition not hole and arsenic clip goes connected the fig of susceptibilities volition lone increase.

The patchy uptake of caller operating strategy releases among authorities employees is not constricted to Android users, however. The study highlights however 10 months aft iOS 15 had launched, 5% of national authorities employees and 30% of authorities and section authorities devices were inactive moving older OS versions.

The study comes arsenic the FBI warned(Opens successful a caller window) cyber actors volition apt “continue oregon summation their targeting of US predetermination officials” with phishing campaigns up of the midterm elections. 

In 2020, the national authorities suffered a large cyberattack(Opens successful a caller window) that went undetected for months. As The Guardian reports, Russian agents are suspected to beryllium liable for the highly blase cognition that saw much than 18,000 backstage and authorities users downloading a contaminated bundle update. The onslaught meant hackers were capable to work interior emails astatine assorted authorities agencies.

Meanwhile, the British authorities has been pressed to motorboat an urgent probe into reports that ex-PM Liz Truss’s phone was hacked(Opens successful a caller window) portion she was Foreign Secretary earlier this year.