Bitdefender points the finger at outdated Android devices – they are a threat!

The problem of fragmentation of the Android operating system is more and more current: despite the fact that progress has been made in recent years (Samsung, for example, releases lots of updates, security and otherwisefor their smartphones), it often happens that Android devices are no longer supported after a couple of years from the release dateeffectively exposing them to various risks for the safety of users.

In fact, Google officially supports the latest version of Android only for three years: once this period of time has elapsed, Official security updates are no longer guaranteed and therefore users must hope that the manufacturer continues to support their device. According to what was declared by Bitdefenderstarting next September nearly a third of smartphones running the Bitdefender Mobile Security app will use an outdated version of the Android operating system.

According to data held by Bitdefender, when at the end of 2022 Android 10, one of the most used versions of the green robot operating system still today, will stop being officially supported by BigG (and Android 13 will be released), as many as 35% of Android devices with Bitdefender Mobile Security will no longer have Google support.

This is a very important fact: outdated devices may in fact have incorrect security holeswhich of course they are tempted by hackers and cybercriminals ready to steal personal data or access credentials to websites. Put simply, an older operating system makes life much easier for cybercriminals and consequently exposes smartphone users to serious risks.

The importance of security patches

Our and Bitdefender’s advice is to install the latest security patches as soon as possible: this kind of update in fact solves security flaws and, in general, all problems related to user safety, so it is essential to install them for minimize the risk of being attacked by cybercriminals.

Obviously, the security patches are not released “forever” and therefore, according to Bitdefender, it would be appropriate to replace the smartphone at the end of the official support. Furthermore, choosing a new device it should not only be based on the screen, performance or quality of the camera, but also on the quality of support offered by the manufacturer and on the amount of updates released.

Samsung and Google are certainly among the producers most attentive to this aspect: theKorean company recently released the list of smartphones that will continue to receive security updates while Google it certainly needs no introduction (just remember that Android 13 will also arrive on the Pixel 4smartphone released almost three years ago and which will probably continue to receive security updates for at least another two years).