NEWS ANALYSIS: A pair of new reports takes aim at Android security, but there are steps users can take and the sky isn't falling.

NEWS ANALYSIS: A pair of new reports takes aim at Android security, but there are steps users can take and the sky isn't falling.

Another day and yet another set of reports alleging insecurity in the Android mobile operating system. This week, not one, but two reports came out detailing security risks in Android.

One of the

, issued by security vendor FireEye on Aug. 20, deals with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security, or lack thereof, in Android apps.

The FireEye researchers found that approximately 68 percent of the 1,000 most downloaded free applications available in the Google Play store have some form of SSL-related security risk.

Among the issues that FireEye uncovered is the fact that across apps that claim to be using SSL, approximately 73 percent did not actually check the SSL certificates for authenticity. FireEye also found that 8 percent of apps did not actually check the hostname on the certificate. The way that SSL works, a certificate should be issued for a specific hostname to be valid.

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