Google has reportedly improved security measures in the latest version of its Android OS, implementing random memory to help protect devices from attacks. Android 4.0 is said to take advantage of address space layout randomization (ASLR), a technique which automatically rearranges storage areas to make the system less vulnerable to malicious code that relies on predictable locations.
"Android 4.0 now provides address space layout randomization (ASLR) to help protect system and third party applications from exploitation due to memory-management issues," reads an Android SDK overview posted on Google's developer site.
Similar methods are utilized in major desktop operating systems, such as Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Apple improved ASLR protections in Mac OS X Lion and brought the protection technology to its mobile platform earlier this year with iOS 4.3.
Aside from ASLR, Android 4.0 also integrates a new keychain API and new options for encrypted storage. Both features are designed to help applications secure sessions and improve authentication management using private keys and certificate chains.
