Avast Mobile Security - Fail or Success? - General Questions and Answers

Hi All,
I'm a NewB here so please go easy on me...:angel:
So I moved to Android about a month ago, and I love it! Got myself a Galaxy Note and my wife a HTC sensation. both phone have been heavily customized with go launcher and all sorts of other apps and skins...love it.
Anyhoo...I suddenly became aware that these phones if lost or stollen would have so much personal info, so i installed Avast Mobile Security and configured the Anti theft option in both phones.
I tested and it all worked fine, apart from the sms notification part where I had to disable it in the stock and in go SMS otherwise the pin code is visible in the sms, which defeats the point as it would be easy for the thief to just punch that in.
Is it a good idea to leave your home phone number on the message so that if found they can call you and return your phone?
Are these app any good? if the sim is removed or changed, I can't text anything further to my phone to enable or disable anything.
Any suggestions, experience or advice would be greatly appreciated...:victory:

there is no need to leave your phone number to everybody can see it. If you lose your phone and the finder wants to give it back, he can always look into you contacts and lookup people like mom, dad, honey etc.. I had Avast anti theft, but i had no chance t test it with real (and clever) thief...

thanks

Related

security app

Anyone know of a security app.. you know the type you can send a message to to lock the phone, delete data, or send back a msg with gps location.
The killer is ... i need one that can enable the gps ... last time i looked i couldnt find one.. I am rooted so that is not an issue.. but normally my gps is off so need one that can enable it.
thanks in advance/
Try Mobile Defense. As long as you install it as a root app it will allow it to enable gps
WaveSecure is the best one around. Can access your phone online. U can lock it, back it up, track it through the gps, and even do a full wipe to ur phone all through the web.
+1 for mobile defense
I just recently intalled mobile defense and so far I really like it. With it, you can enable GPS (if rooted) to track it, send a message to the phone, lock the phone, and view details about the phone like remaining battery and wifi/data status. When sending a message you have the added option of a loud siren going off to make sure they get the message and requiring a PIN to turn off the siren if you want. Also, if some one removes your sim card and inserts their own you still have control of the phone. It also will tell you the details of the new sim card like their phone number and carrier via email.
If you intall MD as a system app it makes it unable to be uninstalled via the phones uninstaller programs and will not show up in the programs list. This can be done very easily because just today hah2110 released a zip that can be flashed with your custom recovery. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=689350
Wave secure is the only other full feature option that I know of, with the added benifit of being able to backup, restore, and wipe your data remotely. But, this comes at a $20/year subscription. I haven't tried WS personally but I hear good things about it.
dont seem to like either.. why do i need to goto their website to track a phone.. if i pay i just want to be able to get a txt message that shows location on google maps.
using wheres my droid for now in conjuntion with smartprofile which lets me send a message to turn on a profile which has gps enabled.
lgkahn said:
why do i need to goto their website to track a phone.. if i pay i just want to be able to get a txt message that shows location on google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the manual (ehrm, the FAQ )
https://www.wavesecure.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=41
Can I send an SMS to lock my phone?
Yes, you can control your phone remotely via text messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't yet had a chance to try it, but have sent a few emails back and forth with them, where they answered some technical questions.

[Q] Microsoft Exchange Question

I have a question about putting my companies exchange setting on my samsung captivate.
so here is a little background. I work for a company that no cameras are allowed, except for me because I am the company photographer. I was issued a blackberry as my work phone but the freaking sucks. Actually when I got it, I set it up myself but then a day later the camera was magically deactivated on it. I am guessing the it department remote in and disabled it.
So I just got a samsung captivate as my personal phone which has nothing to do with my work but.... When I had my iPhone 4 I was able to put the same exchange settings on it and use my work email and address book and calendar on it and they never knew and my camera was never disabled. I dont care about using my phone camera at work but I do when I am not at work since it is my personal phone.
So my question comes after this. When i go to enter my exchange info on my android running froyo 2.2 on my samsung, it says that security settings will be automatically changed by the server. Will they be able to disable my camera on my personal phone? but my iphone they never did? What kind of corporate bull**** damage can they do to my phone and lock it down? It is my personal phone and I only want my calendar on it so I dont have to carry my ****ty blackberry phone around.
if they can lock the phone down just by me entering the exchange settings, can I do anything to prevent it?

[Q] stolen phone need help

Hi guys.
Please help, my phone was stolen earlier today and my SIM card is removed from the phone.
My gmail accoount is still in use and I have my IMEI number.
Is there a way to find out the phone number of that SIM card that uses my phone, so I can text this someone or try to call it?
have some data on the phone which is very important for my work, can't afford of losing it.
Please help me if there is a way, gmail daschbord also does't show that new number in use.
Please help.
Prevention is better than cure,
Apps like finding your lost phone or clearing your data if stolen are pretty useless, a simple factory reset removes everything.
Some of my friends have auto sync on for dropbox, so any pictures taken gets sync(in the event where the thief snap a duck picture of himself it gets sync to his account).
Basically unless u have a sync app installed, there isnt much hope to repossess the data.
As for the imei, not sure as where i am from it doesnt really matter, if your phone gets stolen, you downgrade to a 3690 until u can save up for a new one.
#Fear said:
Prevention is better than cure,
Apps like finding your lost phone or clearing your data if stolen are pretty useless, a simple factory reset removes everything.
Some of my friends have auto sync on for dropbox, so any pictures taken gets sync(in the event where the thief snap a duck picture of himself it gets sync to his account).
Basically unless u have a sync app installed, there isnt much hope to repossess the data.
As for the imei, not sure as where i am from it doesnt really matter, if your phone gets stolen, you downgrade to a 3690 until u can save up for a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Fear. know that prevention is better but I messed up.
hope there is a way to find out that number, just hope that it wont be late.
my work is gone...
There are some of the things you can do-
If you had any remote tracking enabled software in phone use it.antivirus companies like Kaspersky/NOD32 enables device stolen tracking features and allows you to remotely swipe,sms from the stolen phone through online web management.
If your gmail account is in use.use the Gmail account activities for the last login information.you can track based on last logged in IP that who and from where its getting used.launch the police complaint and with phone operator too.the more proofs the faster response.
Something like prey would have been ideal. p r e y p r o j e c t d o t c o m
And you should always backup important information.
Just try to remember this in future. Your phone and all your info are gone, sorry.
matte0 said:
Hi guys.
Please help, my phone was stolen earlier today and my SIM card is removed from the phone.
My gmail accoount is still in use and I have my IMEI number.
Is there a way to find out the phone number of that SIM card that uses my phone, so I can text this someone or try to call it?
have some data on the phone which is very important for my work, can't afford of losing it.
Please help me if there is a way, gmail daschbord also does't show that new number in use.
Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, there is still some hope, if your gmail is being used , look here about using device manager , also read this
Check this out! Links to useful Guides and " Banned " Documentaries ​
thank you guys so much.
tried device manager earlier but it doesn't show anything. all I can do is to make it ring, but have no use out of that.
my phone is online again, see that throu my gmail account. mobile phone is sony xperia mt11i.
would like to call the guy and pay him for that phone it's the data I need. never did any backup or something on it, my bad.
left out of options I would say
matte0 said:
thank you guys so much.
tried device manager earlier but it doesn't show anything. all I can do is to make it ring, but have no use out of that.
my phone is online again, see that throu my gmail account. mobile phone is sony xperia mt11i.
would like to call the guy and pay him for that phone it's the data I need. never did any backup or something on it, my bad.
left out of options I would say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try installing plan B from google playstore first, see if its possible to install it. long short but no harm trying
Check this out! Links to useful Guides and " Banned " Documentaries ​
An IMEI number is useful if the phone connects to a carrier's network.
I'd contact your carrier if you haven't already.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I497 using Tapatalk
Sorry, forgot to mention before. If you report the IMEI to the police then they can stop it being sold on to second hand shops. Doesn't help your situation though.
first thank you all for the help.
tried with the carrier and the police but no luck. they blow me off both of them.
ploce says to wait, carrier say call the police...
but I wonder, in my gmail account I could see my number, why can't I see another number that's using my phone?
What carrier? Did u backup to drop box or anything? If u have the imei report the device stolen to carrier. At least they can deactivate phone so they can't use it anymore. As for getting ur data back you might have to kiss it good bye.
Galaxy S4!!!

Ghost in the Machine

Hi guys!
Tried the search but came up with nothing so here goes...
I must admit I'm not very tech savvy but I can follow instructions no worries
I joined mainly because my Samsung Galaxy S8+ (un-rooted) started to behave very strangely early this year.
(and I want to trick it up after warranty expires in August ?)
Short story is that my Samsung account got hacked (or it at least seems like it) and the perp was then able to control my phone remotely. It was incredible watching my phone do as it pleased and all I could do was sit back and watch. Funny thing is that I've never actually toggled the RC switch (find my phone)...
My local carrier (Telstra Bigpond - Australia) account as well as my Google account got taken over shortly after. This would have given whoever it was access to my 3 cloud accounts which add you can appreciate would contain some sensitive material.
Whoever is responsible could well be a member on here so "Hi, there!! "
I pulled my sim and sd card and switched the phone off so I could decide what to do next.
I got a password manager app, changed all passwords (lucky my partner had a spare iPhone 5S sitting around up I could get online) and factory reset the phone.
All seemed to be going well until a few days ago...
I got "timed out" on my Samsung account (is that even possible?!) and while I was putting the password in (on the Samsung website - silly mistake!) just as I hit next I noticed a few dots in a square pattern that did a spinning type of graphic over the password entry box.
Continuing onto the next screen where the two step verification was, which was to send a text to my phone to receive a code and bang! Before I even received the text a six digit code appears in the fill box on the screen (same spinning dots in a square pattern) right before my eyes and then I receive the text afterwards! The numbers matched!!
I’ve also been asked to enter my Google credentials on more than one occasion lately from being “signed out”...
I don't know what to do!
I've tried all of the popular virus type apps and a few file managers to no avail. More like I've been hacked than a virus?
I've removed apps and shut down almost all of them as well as toggling between mobile data and WiFi and restored the phone twice back to earlier backups from over 6 months ago.
I've only ever downloaded from the Play Store apart from just the once getting your better version of the Play Store XDA (LABS) app.
What might be noteworthy is when I was using Google's help function it said that I had a "modified Android" and to contact manufacturer. I can guarantee the phone has never been cracked open.
I can provide screen shots from DevCheck (FLAR2) but I really don't know what I'm looking at. I also don't have any unknown apps etc...
I really don't know what to do next...
Any advice please??
Sorry about the long post.
All the best,
Crackles
Took phone to Samsung and they wiped the device and installed current (Android Pie 9 w. Feb 01 security update) so was looking forward to having a play with the new os until I went to add my Samsung account details...
Entered the password then the 2-step security kicked in to send a text to my number.
The earlier 4 circling dots dropped the 6 digit code into the fill box before I even received the sms! Device (on it's own jumped straight to the remote control button in the Find my Device security section) then attempted to change the password!
Only thing that prevented that from being carried out was I had biometrics activated and stopped the action using my fingerprint.
Seriously no one has any idea on what to do?!
I also had installed a replacement sim card.
I also can't uninstall updates on certain apps like Google Play Services etc, and some apps either have a dead link (press it and nothing happens) or Play Store can't find the app when I hit the downloaded from Play Store thingy at the bottom of the app description page. Hope that makes sense.
As you said, they wiped the phone, which means they most likely flashed the whole firmware, so there's no way for any malware to remain installed. But for what it's worth, you can try to re-flash the firmware yourself using Oding to make sure the whole flash is clean.
If your phone really was infected with any kind of malware, it must have been a 3-rd party app you have (repeatedly) installed. Some apps like Google Play Services cannot be uninstalled because they are vital for system's (or rather apps installed from Play Store) propper functioning.
Also, even if you had infected your device, it would not be able to take control of your device to the extent you described because of app sandboxing, which cannot be broken unless the app constitutes itself as a system app (because every part of the system has to be cryptographically signed, this would break the boot and brick your device) or the user (you) would have to allow the app the necessary permissions to carry out these tasks.
Hey Kernel thanks for the reply ?
Yes I know what I'm saying sounds crazy and even the missus said I was nuts till I showed her.
I can't screen record any more either...
I'm noticing odd little things like when I pull the notifications screen down for a second or so the NFC, Bluetooth and nearby icons are lit up but then revert back to a if they were off. I've switched all of these items off in the settings so are they being sneaky?
So far nothing really bad has happened apart from not being able to put my credentials into the PayPal app. That's using both Last Pass auto-fill and manually entering the email and password. I've un-installed and re-installed many times and it's the same. I'm not going to add any banking apps just yet.
Facebook also got installed in the background about 4 times within a few minutes. Seemed odd to me. I think I've got a screenshot of that.
Malwarebytes found an issue with I'm guessing a theme I got from the Samsung Galaxy Store so I removed it, chose another and it seems OK.
There's still a few odd things happening like certain settings reverting back to something different from what I'd set.
I'll keep tinkering and post anything that stands out.
Is there an app or something that can check every file on my phone and tell if something isn't quite right?
I don't have a pc at the moment but when I do I'll look into Odin.
Thanks again for taking the time I know I sound like a lunatic and tbh I really wish I was haha!! :laugh:
Hmm interesting...
When I tried to upload the screenshot it stopped and said "bad request"...
Sent from my SM-G955F using XDA Labs
Could all this weird bs be happening if the home WiFi has been hijacked?
Sorry for dumb questions.
Sent from my SM-G955F using XDA Labs
Whatsapp does the same thing, autocompletes the code, before de sms is coming. This is not a malware. But, don't use password manager... Those can be hacked.
Really my password manager can be hacked?!
I'm using Last Pass.
So moving on I started to poke around the WiFi router and found the PnP enabled and my device was sharing with another device. I did not authorise this. I've since reset the router, changed the pin and access code, disabled the WPS and also factory reset the device that was "sharing" with mine... The owner of said device no longer lives with me. I'm just glad I confiscated the phone from him before he left.
When I'm researching possibilities of what could be going on with my phone the pages won't load. It's like my searches are being monitored and the data is being stopped. I tested this with my partner's phone (on mobile data) and the exact Web pages loaded right up on her's without a hitch! I tried again on mine and they just stopped. Pages would load straight away on mine if searching for something completely different like rc cars or bmx related content. Stuff to do with my phone just won't work ffs!
Like when I tried my first post on here. It simply would not post it up! I ended up having to copy/paste the draft and emailing it to another account that I made up on the spot on her phone. Hence the two usernames in this thread.
I got the 3C TOOLBOX app and in the app management section, Task Manager under service many of them are "custom entries" and I cannot un-tick, modify or reset back to the original version of any of these apps. Google Play Services was the worst. Pretty much every thing it was capable of doing had a "custom action" and I could not do anything with it.
Am I doing something wrong or do I have a serious invasion of my phone..?
Thinking about smashing this thing to bits and getting an S10+ ??
Also the Bluetooth, NFC & Nearby buttons almost any me of the day/night are on for a split second when I drag the motivation panel down. These are all set to "OFF" in settings...
What
The
F--k?!?!?!
Sent from my SM-G955F using XDA Labs

Prevent hack

Im keep being hacked by my genius software engineering malignant narcissistic. I've bought over 15 different phones from different carriers and used fake registration info. However, they get hack in 30 mins. I know the fontserver app was remotely downloaded Over the Air because of other apps that are installed to help that process. For ex; GNSS Air Test, Gnss Test 1.2, fused location, gnss log level setting, LAOP test. V1.93, entitlement checkservice , FOTA update, secure ui service, teeservice, dynamic syatem update, hidden menu, hidden operator, G-DEC, GCUV, etc...mobile service apps to install the spyware. From my understanding, all is needed is a phone number to where app is downloaded OTA. Here's the kicker... With every new phone I dont even setup a google acct or call anyone and it get hacked.
So please anyone share your theories or anything about this . i need to stop this bs. Theyve gang stalked me broke in my house numerous time vandalized, hacked my friends and their families threatening them with death threats and non stop harassing calls to my cell and house phones.
So i just need some kind of inkling how this can happen. Sincerely yours truly
Sorry to hear this is happening to you. It is also happening to me by my soon to be ex who is already by ex. I keep being told to buy another phone and I don't because I figure the same would happen to me and the new phone will just get hacked as well by whomever she got to do this to me. I created a post today asking for help, but due to the lack of replies to your post I guess I better not hold my breath that anything can be done. Did you find a resolution to stop from being hacked?
Better check yourself...
Burgrio said:
Hacking attacks are on the rise, and it doesn't seem like there is any way to protect yourself from them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's plenty you can do. Most devices get compromised because the user did something stupid.
Not always but part of not being stupid is acting as soon as unusual behavior is noticed. Find the cause asap.
Factory reset if you highly suspect being hacked and reset all passwords.
I've been running outdated and unpatched stock Androids for years with no breaches that ever required a factory reset or reflash to purge. It could happen but in practice if you don't do stupid things... it doesn't happen.
Downloading any unvetted files or apks even a jpeg can do it. Do not side load anything unless completely vetted. Lock down install unknown files globally and locally for all apps especially browsers unless you need to sideload. Check those settings at least once a month... and enable them as soon as a sideload is done.
I don't use wifi and keep bt off when not being used. I check my download folder daily for crap I didn't download and for any strange behavior.
All email is kept in the cloud... email and texts are prime perpetrators.
Don't click on anything unknown, delete or close the window. Keep all trashware apps off the device including FB, Twitter, WhatsApp etc.
Scan app permissions, know what's running at startup and why/what's accessing the internet.
Listed System Administrators, who's your daddy?
The list goes on but you get the idea...
♤There's no saving dumb bunnies

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