FTC Recommends Ways to Improve Mobile Device Security Practices

The Federal Trade Commission released a report in late February titled Mobile Security Updates: Understanding the Issues which analyzes the process by which mobile devices sold in the U.S. receive security updates and provides recommendations for improvement. The information the FTC obtained from eight mobile device manufacturers as well as information from six wireless carriers the Federal Communications Commission collected was used in creating the report. While the data are not sufficiently representative to permit definitive conclusions about industry practices as a whole, it nevertheless provides remarkable insight into the security update practices that affect a large proportion of the devices on the U.S. market and offers steps for improvement.