Why Android users should care more about monthly security updates

We store a massive amount of personal data on our phones. Whether you have a flagship or midrange device, your email, personal photos, credit cards, banking info, and more are accessible from your pocket. While most people take care of their phones physically, they may not pay the same care to keeping their phones updated. A notification letting you know there’s an update may go ignored because it takes too much time or gets in the way of what you’re doing.

Keeping your phone updated makes sure the sensitive data stored on it is kept safe from digital threats. Here’s why you shouldn’t ignore that update notification and update your phone as soon as you see it.

What is a monthly security update?

Think of Android as the foundation of your phone’s house. While it’s solid, over time it develops cracks and vulnerabilities that can be used by animals and nature to get in. To fix these cracks, you need to patch them to keep your foundation solid and invulnerable. You aren’t changing anything major about the cosmetics of the house, only making sure it’s in good structural shape. The patches for this theoretical house are security patches.

These monthly patches differ from major OS upgrades or quarterly feature drops that Google Pixel devices receive. Major OS upgrades change how your phone works. It may change things visually, alter how you interact with your phone, add new features, or modify existing features. These updates usually happen once a year, but it seems like they’ll happen more frequently going forward.

Security updates are less prominent. They fix vulnerabilities behind the scenes while affecting the user experience as little as possible, if at all. They are issued frequently to keep up with new vulnerabilities that are discovered and patch them quickly.

Google is in charge of vulnerabilities related to Android, while chip manufacturers are in charge of vulnerabilities in their hardware. Google rounds up these vulnerabilities and gives them to device OEMs. The OEMs are then responsible for releasing the update that contains these fixes. The OEMs may need to collaborate with carriers to make sure the updates don’t interrupt their service.

Threats are omnipresent

While our operating systems are largely secure, vulnerabilities are discovered in them all the time. Security researchers and malicious actors look for and find these weak points, which can become doorways to detrimental actions.

• Malware: Malware is malicious software that allows bad actors to take over your phone in some way. They can steal your information, lock your phone until you pay a ransom, or use your phone’s resources to do something nefarious without your knowledge.
• Data Theft: Some exploits allow bad actors to steal sensitive information stored on your phone, such as passwords, banking information, photos, contacts, and more.
• Spying: Exploits may allow hackers to access your microphone or camera without your knowledge or permission.
• Device Takeover: In severe cases, vulnerabilities may allow bad actors to take over your phone and all its functions.

The scary part about these vulnerabilities is that hackers don’t care who they hurt. They create their hacks, and often automate them, so that they hit as many devices as possible. Those who haven’t updated their devices to block these attacks are at risk, which is why it’s important to keep your device up to date.

Why monthly updates are so important

Even though threats exist, why is it important to update your device monthly? There are situations in which hackers find exploits before a patch is issued. These are called “zero-day” exploits and are leveraged by hackers quickly, since devices don’t have protection against them. Google and its partners release a patch as soon as possible, which is released in the monthly update.

By installing the update, you minimize the time your phone is exposed to this exploit and ensure your data is as safe as possible. If you ignore these updates, you leave your phone open to more exploits for longer, making it more vulnerable to more threats with each missed update. Leaving your data unprotected is almost asking for it to be stolen, so it’s crucial to stop ignoring updates and install them as soon as they appear.

There are no excuses

Many people may feel that stopping what they’re doing to wait for an update to install every month is annoying and tedious. However, these excuses are not worth the risk of having your data stolen.

The update takes too long or makes my phone restart

Monthly security patches are, in most cases, smaller, quicker, and easier to install than OS updates or feature drops. While your phone must be restarted to install them, keeping your data safe is worth it. You can set updates to install overnight when you’re not using your phone, so it’s set when you wake up. This can minimize the disturbance when using your device and keep you safe at the same time

It won’t happen to me

This is dangerous thinking that may end up being untrue. While you may think you’re unimportant to hackers, they are indifferent to who they hack. All they care about is hacking as many devices as quickly as possible, so they don’t care how important or unimportant you think you are.

Doesn’t my VPN or antivirus app protect me?

VPNs protect others from seeing what you’re doing on your phone. Antivirus apps are great for scanning downloaded files and apps to make sure they are free from malware. Neither of these solutions fixes or blocks issues with the underlying operating system that they operate within.

I don’t notice a difference

Good, that’s the point. These updates should not change how your phone works and should only fix things in the background, allowing you to keep using your device as normal.

Your digital life is worth protecting

Since smartphones store personal information about your life, it’s important to keep it protected. As soon as you see an update notification, take time to install it. You can also manually check for updates by going to Settings > System > System Update if you want to be proactive. There are Android settings you can change to make your phone more secure.