Petros <Petros.Listig@fdrive.com.au> wrote:

Instead of giving all permissions to a whole application, you separate it in modules that get certain privileges when needed.

It requires discipline from the application designer but yields better security. That's the trade-off.

Of course it is up to a programmer to use it - and there are companies that don't have any interest in that.

And there are companies (not to mention governments, NGOs, educational/research institutions, etc.) that have an interest in securing their data to the extent of devoting real resources and expertise to the problem. For phones and tablets to be used in such environments for work-related activities, there will need to be a certain level of security assurance provided. I've heard it argued that this is one respect in which the needs of the consumer space diverge sharply from the "enterprise" scenario, the other being the level of reliability required of hardware/software. I'm sure there are people on this list who can point to examples of lax requirements in organizations that should know better, but the point is that many of those with (economically, politically, or otherwise) valuable information have an incentive to take the issue seriously, as do all of the suppliers of software for such environments.