[Q] I am worried: Infected/bad binaries here on XDA? - General Questions and Answers

I'm not accusing anyone for anything. I am simply worried about all the different updates, ROMs, zips, binaries, hacks, etc. here on XDA.
I also understand that XDA cannot take any whatsoever responsibility what their users do and create. Everything that comes from these forums are used at each and everyones own risk.
What makes me worried is: It's so easy for anyone to hide "bad code" in commonly used binaries and bundle them with ROMs and updates, and noone will be the wiser.
Why now?
Well. I did install a nice "super-mega-duper-thunder" engine on one of my android devices, but as I am a suspicious person by nature, I always check up what these "update.zip" files contains first.
At fist I did not find anything suspicious, but after installing it. I noticed a higher demand on the data link, transmitting more data than usual.
I found out that the device is now connecting to various IP-adresses all over the planet, transmits some unidentified data and closes the connection. I don't know what's going on, but I find it kinda weird. I do not believe in coincidences either.
I cannot tell if it is some app I recently installed, nor if it is some zip-file I recently installed. I am still investigating this.
Again: I am not accusing anyone for anything... yet. I simply don't know what's going on.
It made me thinking: XDA might be the perfect springboard for anyone to distribute "bad code" to mobile devices, and reach a huge number of them without ever getting busted. How many ROM developers are there on these forums?... and how many have included spywares/viruses/trojans/etc. in their ROM or updated/hacks? ..and how many of us installs these ROMs and updates completely blind, never ever suspecting a thing?
After all. "trusted" developers are just those who haven't been spotted doing bad things... yet.
(I know. It looks like I am pulling everyone over the same edge. But how can one tell the difference between a good developer, and a bad one if both wear white hats?)
I understand that ROMs is hard to check, and thus the perfect target to hide bad binaries in.
Also easy to hide a few kilobytes of bad code inside /META-INF/com/google/android/ for instance.
Is there anything we, the users and developers, can do about this? To make sure that trusted/recognised developers really don't have anything to hide?
What can one sole user do to prevent or reduce the risk of getting bad code on their devices?
Antivirus?... aw.. .don't try that one. Only script kiddies get busted by antivirus softwares. A good developer write their own "bad code".
Perhaps one should just stay with the stock firmware?

Running custom software always has a risk, its best to stick to well known Devs and try and keep tabs on the feedback in the forum, eventually somebody will figure out if something stinks.. Don't just blindly flash any zip because it promises double data speeds or 4x the battery life from random members with a low post/thanks account.
Even stock software has it exploits.

super mega duper thunder engine?? lol... btw i feel best to keep a check on my data usage myself...(i still dun knw what android os transfers in background)
as my friend said in above post... best is to stick wid well knwn developers..

Related

Unsafe ROMS?

I've been playing around with all the 6.5 ROMS available on this forum (plus have been lurking for a while so felt like doing some contribution could be appreciated ).
My company is very stringent about enforcing Exchange ActiveSync policies, especially PIN CODE, timeout to lock and remote wipe.
I noticed that on the 230XX series (I have tested up to 23053) posted here, there are two different behaviors, one serie works with my Exchange Active Sync, one does not.
Since the PIN request and lock timeout work fine with them, I have to assume the remote wipe feature has somehow be disabled by this ROM.
I have been able to identify that a ROM will give me this problem even without connecting with my Exchange Server.
in 100% of the case, if I try to import a root certificate on a "hacked" ROM, it will be installed without any warning, just a "Certificate successfully installed, press OK" dialog.
Now, on a ROM that is not "hacked", when you try to import a root certificate, you are warned that this may be an unsafe operation and have actually to confirm.
This is very concerning to me, because the warning being removed means that any bad guy can leverage these ROM to deploy a rogue root certificate to your device and your device can start trusting wrong sites.
I do not intend this to be an exhaustive list, but as of my testing only the following two ROMs work correctly:
- NATF
- RRE
All the others do not. The source of the non-working ones is either the same, or these people have purposedly altered the ROM to change the security settings. But the result is the same, security altered ROMS.
If anyone could confirm they are experiencing the same, I would not feel alone on the planet
UM
I'd just like to reiterate that this is a development community- most of the cooked ROMS you've tried are experimental works in progress. We tend to take our experimenting a bit far here- but as none of our 'products' are really production tested, it's fairly safe to say that all of them are just a bit unsafe.
A stock ROM has the benefit of being tested in a production environment- and while performance on these ROMs may not be optimal, they are composed of a set recipe of components established between the OEM and Microsoft.
Many of our ROMs are conglomerations of various different components- so it's not exactly safe to say that any of them can be held completely accountable for device security- there may be plenty of exploits present behind the scenes that never have been exposed or rectified.
We're small-scale individual developers. Most, if not all of us, do this for fun. Many of our packages deliberately alter the way in which devices handle certificates and signing- because it allows us to expand the boundaries we develop within.
If you're looking for guaranteed security, your best bet is to stick with a completely stock device. If you choose to use another ROM, any insecurity is not on the developer, but you.
Very well said! On top most, actually all of the 6.5 based ROMs have a microsoft beta as a base. Though it may be a save bet that the latest built # may be the closest to the final release at Oct. 9 it's a common practice to reduce/alter some "security" settings an policies for an "easier" way to success. None of these facts is to blame on any ROM chef or developer or however you want to name these creative heads here.
Their work is just incredible and I bet that ms or HTC would be proud to have such guys on board.
Note:
I bet that some individuals of both companies keep a close eye on what's going on here.
Guys,
Don't get me wrong, I know what I'm doing when installing a beta that has been leaked.
First, it's illegal, we are stealing non published source code, infringing intellectual property and probably making ourselves guilty of too many felony counts to be able to get out of jail without a long white beard.
But, joke aside, this was not the point of my post and I am sorry if I didn't explain myself clearly.
There are 23053 builds that work well are 23053 that do not, as was the case with any previous build number and, consistantly, I have had two out of the pack working exactly as expected from a security perspective, and all of the rest not working as expected.
So, since I do not believe MS is deliberately compiling one tree of the code with embedded security and another without, it means that someone in the middle is affecting it.
That was my point.
UM
Hummm...
Wrong approach fellow...
Wrong place, wrong time and wrong people.
Don't expect to be received with an open heart while commenting such things...
Imagine the following scenario:
A priest enters a strip bar and tells the owner of his concerns of moral ground, about the practices that take pace there... LOL
I may understand your point, definitely not your purpose.
If you are lucky enough not the get flamed, you will at least see some frown faces...
Leave it...
As someone suggested before, remember this is a development community...
If what you find doesn't suit your needs simply suggest changes or don't use it at all.
If you concluded, after experimenting, that the only functional ROMs are NATF and RRE ones, allow me the following suggestion:
Choose between 3 options:
1. Use a stock ROM so you don't «steal» form anyone and don't risk having to spend 5 days in a row shaving...
2. Use a NATF ROM
3. Use an RRE ROM
I believe i made my point as gently as I could...
If i may have hurt some feelings, i am deeply sorry for that.
Cheers
Well, 2 points in answer to your post where you obviously did not read mine:
1) Did you miss the sentence that starts with "Joke aside" ??
2) Don't care of being flamed, I provided evidence to people that want to make up their miind, they don't need you to tell them what is safe or not for them
Bottom line is:
- if you do not want to have a phone crashing on you, use a stock ROM (that's actually a good joke... Stock ROMs do not crash less than their beta counterpart).
- if you do not want your passwords, contacts or personal data to end up into some hackers site, be careful about what ROM you install
wearing my flame proof vest.
UM
unlockMe said:
Well, 2 points in answer to your post where you obviously did not read mine:
1) Did you miss the sentence that starts with "Joke aside" ??
2) Don't care of being flamed, I provided evidence to people that want to make up their miind, they don't need you to tell them what is safe or not for them
Bottom line is:
- if you do not want to have a phone crashing on you, use a stock ROM (that's actually a good joke... Stock ROMs do not crash less than their beta counterpart).
- if you do not want your passwords, contacts or personal data to end up into some hackers site, be careful about what ROM you install
wearing my flame proof vest.
UM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear UM,
I had a good laugh reading your last sentence LOL
I believe that wither you misunderstood me either I was not clear...
1. I am not accusing you of anything.
2. I read you whole message (points 1 and 2 included... They were there, weren't they...?)
3. I am not trying to demote you of you purposes... I was only trying to pass a message but given the fact the message wasn't delivered, I will try to rephrase...:
You are expressing both facts and opinions.
That is, indeed, you right given the fact we are in an open community and we, still, are in a free world (so to speak...).
I do not endorse or condemn none of your previous statements.
Knowing this community for quite some time and specially knowing it's member, active ones, passive ones, contributing ones, parasite ones, etc... I just know for sure that your comment in which you address people in such manner will have one of two possible outcomes:
1. Total ignorance
2. Flaming
Now, after this, do whatever you like Don't get me wrong and sorry if I made myself misunderstood
Nuff said.
Cheers.
This thread is not development related, moved to the appropriate section

How safe are custom roms to use?

I was wondering if anyone knows a real answer for this. How easy would it be to cook in something that would send back your email login and password? Or other logins to stuff like banking sites. The people who make the roms seem to be hard working enthusiasts, but it still makes me nervous.
The reason I am asking this is because WM6.1 seems pretty buggy and slow and I was hoping that maybe updating to 6.5 would help, however Sprint is being super slow and vague (as usual) about if they will ever release an official rom.
And please no "then just don't use custom roms" replies. I am just hoping someone has some way to show that they are safe and then I will happily use it!
I was wondering the same thing. I don't use any cooked rom for anything banking related for this possible risk.
I know there are other threads that have the answer but can't find them maybe someone hid them?
Anyway what would the average chef gain, second of all how do you know a member of Opera or IE is not taking down your details or even Bill? "by that i mean there is more to worry about"
My point being chefs cook ROMs to give users better phones than stocks... Also the world of WM isn't laden with virus's/spyware so even doing so would be hard and no one would be bothered to spend there time considering how much time cooking consumes.
Just Hard-SPL your device and start flashing
I find cooked roms are the best! They are tweeked, customized, optimized, flexable, etc. Happy Flashing
Im still leary. Im going to wait until you all flash...then i will know its safe
If any chef here did anything as dumb as that, I guarantee you everyone would know in VERY short order what was done, and that chef would be hung up by his ankles and verbally flogged by everyone here.
Trust me, it's never happened here, and it's not GOING to happen; because we have a great community here with great chefs who do nothing but make life better for everyone else. Choose a ROM, flash it, and quit being so paranoid.
FloatingFatMan said:
If any chef here did anything as dumb as that, I guarantee you everyone would know in VERY short order what was done, and that chef would be hung up by his ankles and verbally flogged by everyone here.
Trust me, it's never happened here, and it's not GOING to happen; because we have a great community here with great chefs who do nothing but make life better for everyone else. Choose a ROM, flash it, and quit being so paranoid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a very argumentative answer to a very simple and valid concern that allwires has regarding the security of using cooked rom's. Some people that use these rom's like to use their device's web capabilities for banking and for storing personal information and he brings up a very valid question regarding the safety of using these rom's for these purposes. Then you insult the poster by saying he or she is being paranoid when we all know that the capabilities for wrong doing via viruses and other malicious software are very valid concerns in this day and age. I would like to hear an intelligent and informative answer to this question since I'm sure as this sort of thing becomes more mainstream as it is bound through time to become there will be many more inquiries made as to the safety of their usage.
I'm with FloatingFatMan here, any cook daft enough to do such a thing to a ROM would very quickly be found by his peers, tried, convicted and summarily thrown to the lions.
For all that how do we know Messrs Gates, Jobs, well their minions anyway , and other sundry "professional" ROM cooks are not hiding sneaky payloads in?
deedee said:
I'm with FloatingFatMan here, any cook daft enough to do such a thing to a ROM would very quickly be found by his peers, tried, convicted and summarily thrown to the lions.
For all that how do we know Messrs Gates, Jobs, well their minions anyway , and other sundry "professional" ROM cooks are not hiding sneaky payloads in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, but you see that is my point exactly. Whether it is the big guy or the small guy doing it history has shown that where there is a will there is a way, especially when there is a profit to be made. Its like when Norton got busted for spyware found in their AV software in the early 2000's, remember that? I just wonder if such an attempt will be made with this newly emerging technology that is similar to the PC of the late 90's and the early 2000's, vulnerable. No one is offering (at least no one that I'm aware of) AV or firewall software for these various mobile OS's and I think that it is only a matter of time before the bad guys find a way to take advantage of these opportunities the same way they did the PC. Al least over time there became ways to detect these types of illegal practices with firewall software and packet capture software that made the average user capable of some control over his or her personal data.
qqa92 said:
Well, but you see that is my point exactly. Whether it is the big guy or the small guy doing it history has shown that where there is a will there is a way, especially when there is a profit to be made. Its like when Norton got busted for spyware found in their AV software in the early 2000's, remember that? I just wonder if such an attempt will be made with this newly emerging technology that is similar to the PC of the late 90's and the early 2000's, vulnerable. No one is offering (at least no one that I'm aware of) AV or firewall software for these various mobile OS's and I think that it is only a matter of time before the bad guys find a way to take advantage of these opportunities the same way they did the PC. Al least over time there became ways to detect these types of illegal practices with firewall software and packet capture software that made the average user capable of some control over his or her personal data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey There,
Not wanting to be unkind but i think you are being very paranoid here and btw, you can indeed purchase AV software for mobile devices; youve only gotta google AV software for windows mobile to see that
The limited OS and how its written means the "baddies" would have nothing to gain/find it difficult to exploit so whats the point.
The only "virus" (and i use the term loosely) i ever came across actually asked you "do you want to install blah blah blah" to which the obvious answer was no.............oooo that was dangerous
To summerise, dont get your knickers in a twist about it and enjoy!
^^ And to add to Tim's comments. Just make sure you get your cooked ROM from an established chef if you're worried, and there won't be any problems.
Now, if the ROM was from someone with a tiny postcount and wasn't known, then you might have cause to think twice; but that's not going to happen here...
timmymarsh said:
Hey There,
Not wanting to be unkind but i think you are being very paranoid here and btw, you can indeed purchase AV software for mobile devices; youve only gotta google AV software for windows mobile to see that
The limited OS and how its written means the "baddies" would have nothing to gain/find it difficult to exploit so whats the point.
The only "virus" (and i use the term loosely) i ever came across actually asked you "do you want to install blah blah blah" to which the obvious answer was no.............oooo that was dangerous
To summerise, dont get your knickers in a twist about it and enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well then why not let the cat out of the bag. I'm just in here to see if I can get a large portion of the members in here's knickers in a twist so that they will all go out and buy my mobile AV since mine is the biggest one out there currently. Lots of potential there, in terms of cha-ching you have to agree. LOL!
There's also the option of downloading a kitchen and cooking your own ROM ... this method permits you to look at each package in detail.
Cheers,
I once opened my yahoo on a cooked room, later on I was trying to log on on my laptop and password was rejected. I freaked out and kept trying, later that day I was able to log in after few hours for some unknown reason...
I stopped using my HTC fuze for emails since.
The myth that ALL cooked ROMs in here are completely clean sounds like an old familiar story of when the young man said to the girl "don't worry it will not hurt a bit" lol
I wish there was a tool that scans for such security gaps in a ROM
I'm not sure what your reasoningn was to stop using email on the phone because of a failure to login to yahoo from a laptop. Did you notice any malicious activity on your yahoo account? Have you since? Have you changed that password? Just seems strange.
As for the security of cooked ROMS, I've never used one but I have a new phone coming and I'm going to try one from a reputable party here. I'm not nervous about it and I use online banking all the time. Here is why I am not concerned:
1.) As several people pointed out already, your PC is more vulnerable just because of sheer numbers. WinMo has a small market share and cooked ROMs would represent an even smaller market share. Even then, there are many custom ROMs to choose from. Then if EVERY user of a specific tainted ROM used their online banking on their phones, there is still little they could actually do with that information. For example, chase uses text messaging which means yes, someone could get my balance and stuff, but I actually have to login to the site to authorize my phone rather than login through the phone. So the information itself may or may not be useful. At the end of the day, it just wouldn't make the chef much money since there would simply be too few potential victims.
2.) The liklihood is very high that the perp would be caught by their peers and exposed in order to 1 - protect their own integrity, and 2 - get bonus points for being the one who exposed the bad guy (or girl). When you add this level of risk to the low reward, it just doesn't make sense. High risk, lots of work, little reward.
3.) Then of course, if someone fraudulently accesses your account, you can usually get that money back.
So I'm perfectly comfortable froma security standpoint. It's the stability standpoint I'm a bit concerned about but that's why I'm waiting till I get my new phone to try one out so I can go back to my old phone if it all craps out.
RedScorpion78 said:
I once opened my yahoo on a cooked room, later on I was trying to log on on my laptop and password was rejected. I freaked out and kept trying, later that day I was able to log in after few hours for some unknown reason...
I stopped using my HTC fuze for emails since.
The myth that ALL cooked ROMs in here are completely clean sounds like an old familiar story of when the young man said to the girl "don't worry it will not hurt a bit" lol
I wish there was a tool that scans for such security gaps in a ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking the same thing and how much it would cost to have Lavasoft or AVG or Symantec evaluate ROMs as an impartial third party.
If anybody is thinking peer review would snuff out cheaters there are plenty cases where Ebay and Craigslist deals go bad and everybody is in on it - even (inadvertently) the local police authority that doesn't have the technical knowhow to deal with a cyber-based threat.
startluvova said:
I was thinking the same thing and how much it would cost to have Lavasoft or AVG or Symantec evaluate ROMs as an impartial third party.
If anybody is thinking peer review would snuff out cheaters there are plenty cases where Ebay and Craigslist deals go bad and everybody is in on it - even (inadvertently) the local police authority that doesn't have the technical knowhow to deal with a cyber-based threat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there,
Way to go to ressurect an old thread
Nothing has changed, i have never heard of seen of a custom rom that has a virus cooked in, or one that has been intentionally created to spy on the user.
That said, i guess you have to make your own decision after reading the comments from some experienced chefs/flashers here
CHeers.

Are we (ROM Flashers) Idiots?

This writer seems to think so.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/16/2801916/home-baked-roms-its-going-to-blow-up-sometime-soon
Actually he makes some valid points (and I use a Custom ROM myself).
Absolutely ZERO disrespect intended to the ROM developers here --- we should appreciate their very hard work and opening our devices up to so many other options and enhancing performance.
But after reading this article, what do people think about the safety of ROM flashing .... not in terms of bricking the device (we all know the risks), but in terms of:
A) Unintentionally opening the device up to exploits due to poor coding etc
B) A rogue developer intentionally exploiting to capture data for profit
Are you comfortable doing bank transactions on a rooted android device w/ custom ROM?
Interesting question
I have never even thought about what I do and don't do on my custom devices.
Forget the internet banking etc, there's also the entire gamit of email, social sites, work email etc etc
Just as well I trust you all!
This is definitely a concern......
Here in Korea though, the banking apps do not allow you to use them with a rooted device.....So each time, I have to unroot my device in order to do banking.
I do not know, however, if once I root again it would give the developer or hackers access to that data......
Something to think about as well though!
I realized: I never looked for an app that investigates security issues on a smart phone.
perhaps someone with knowledge in this field can give a few hints to usefull apps?
and yes, "I am with stupid too"
Motorola Defy+ with Quarx's CM9 nightlies and most of the time I still have no clue to what I am doing precisly.
But on the bright side: I do not use my phone for banking, there's nothing to "bank around"
Hmmm -- I had never considered that banks would block it -- have not tried yet. You make a good point about what remains on the device later -- at a minimum clearing browser history is a good idea -- but even that could be circumvented with a devious enough approach.
[email protected] said:
This is definitely a concern......
Here in Korea though, the banking apps do not allow you to use them with a rooted device.....So each time, I have to unroot my device in order to do banking.
I do not know, however, if once I root again it would give the developer or hackers access to that data......
Something to think about as well though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. From what I have seen most of the "advanced" posters here dismiss antivirus packages as a waste of time and money and they could well be right. Still I have not been able to find any real discussions on the risks the article I posted raised. It would be great if some of the more "expert" members here could offer their views.
I am loving my rooted G-Note with custom ROM ---- but I do not really have confidence in Android and its various hacks yet. Unfortunately the alternatives are rather poor.
gentle_giant said:
I realized: I never looked for an app that investigates security issues on a smart phone.
perhaps someone with knowledge in this field can give a few hints to usefull apps?
and yes, "I am with stupid too"
Motorola Defy+ with Quarx's CM9 nightlies and most of the time I still have no clue to what I am doing precisly.
But on the bright side: I do not use my phone for banking, there's nothing to "bank around"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say I agree and disagree with the article.
For me personally, when I decide to get all flash happy with my Android devices, I tend to not put any information regarding banking or credit cards. Logically, at least to me, the concerns sited in this article do occur to me. Then again, to be honest I do not put any of this information on my non jail broken company secured and encrypted I phone either. Call me paranoid.
Where I disagree with the article is in the insinuation that using a stock ROM with apps downloaded from let's say th he iTunes store is really much more secure. If a baked ROM can be pulling information behind your back, and somehow bypass security measures written into a banking app, why could not a fart app some momo downloads to be the life of the party do the same?
Flyer
I have been thinking about this ever since I've rooted my phone and flashed the first custom rom...
-and I still don't have a real answer.
Thats why I prefer stock ROM
finally its your (user) wish, weather to use custom rom or stock rom.
none of the developers are forcing to use their custom rom.
rom development is hobby,passion, and part-time for some of developers.
my few words.pls correct me if I'm wrong
Ever heard of pdroid? Droidwall?
reversegear said:
finally its your (user) wish, weather to use custom rom or stock rom.
none of the developers are forcing to use their custom rom.
rom development is hobby,passion, and part-time for some of developers.
my few words.pls correct me if I'm wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are not wrong, but you are definitely off topic.
This is so one sided. You can say the same about any OpenSource program with small userbases. Take any little Linux Distri, any small OSS and you get to this problem quickly. Most of us can't review the source code properly so we have to rely on others. But at least you CAN rely on someone. You can't rely on anyone at closed source programs.
That's why you use Truecrypt for encrypting your hard drive and not Bitlocker, that's why you should use a Linux Distri and not Windows and that's why i use OpenSource ROMs and not the closed source StockRoms and even try to have as much OpenSource Apps on my Phone as possible.
Just my 2 cents.
He has the points and those are sorely his.
Calling other ROM flashers idiots is ridiculous and not very nice. In fact, based on what he typed, he seems to be an idiot himself.
Now to other Rom flashers, as long as then understand the risk of doing so, they entitle and fully responsible for their actions, no need to teach them.
Security issue? I drive a car to a bad area, get off, windows still lower, not even care to lock the car. That is my choice.
Now I'm going to the very nice, high educated area, I choose to lock the car, put the steering-wheel lock on. Again, it's my choice. Home wireless network, I choose to set the password or not, it's my decision. I understand the risk of not doing that. And if I choose not to do that, it doesn't make me an idiot.
Next, not all baked ROM are based on leaked official one. CyanogenMod team is well-known and they based on the Google source code, ASOP, not a leak one from vendors.
So, if ROM flashers realize what source they use, they're all set.
Writing a long article with just one-minded lopsided thinking like this is pretty lame.
an0nym0us_ said:
Ever heard of pdroid? Droidwall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pdroid: looks very promissing but you need to be a programmer and only for Gingerbread.
Droidwall: from what I understand from it it is a kind of fine-tuning of your data traffic. Pdroid goes much, much further and I would prefer it.
A real shame I'm not a developper/programmer and also very happy with my custom ICS ROM.....
On the bright side; I like tweaking but not social networking or any other more "dangerous stuff" Just like I'm used on my PC.
I've never bothered with a custom ROM, partly because I just realise that pretty much everything I could do with a custom ROM, I can do manually with a rooted phone. I don't like to install a package of software someone else thinks I should use, I prefer to pick and choose the stuff I want. Security concerns never really bothered me, I don't care too much about the security of my phone (I guess maybe some people would be annoyed at me if my contacts were stolen or something, but other than that there isn't really anything I care about on my phone). I never do online banking etc. on it, but that's just because that's something I do very rarely and only do when I'm at a computer anyway.
gentle_giant said:
Pdroid: looks very promissing but you need to be a programmer and only for Gingerbread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to be a programmer. All you do is get your ROM zip, run the PDroid patcher on the ROM zip, it'll give you a patch zip, flash the patch zip in recovery, install PDroid from market. And I think there are unofficial ports to ICS possibly.
Doesn't stop me from flashing custom ROMs.
Oh well...?
Sent from the future.
I though the article itself was a bit sensationalistic but at the same time I think changing the ROM in a system (not to mention giving root permissions to apps) is a lot more potentially intrusive than downloading apps from Itunes or Gplay.
Anyway I like my custom ROM setup but I sort of feel like I am whistling in the dark at times. I think a lot depends on how sophisticated we are as users.
Case in point:
When I flashed my ROM for the first time, I freaked out seeing a bunch of Chinese names every time I made a call to certain numbers. The good thing about XDA is if you search you can find anything about ROM issues and in this case I learned that this was due to the developer using the contacts part from the leaked Chinese ICS and it had something to do with a "Phone locator service" that could be disabled. Ok so I disable and go back to whistling in the dark --- but I have not been able to learn what the phone locator service is in the first place or WHY i had Chinese names showing in my calls.
As a relative Noob I can follow instructions from most of the generally well written instructions on XDA and not get into trouble --- but (rhetorically) do I really understand the background issues and risks with some of these things?
What is this phone locator service anyway? Why the Chinese Names and Locations in the call indicators?
mcord11758 said:
Where I disagree with the article is in the insinuation that using a stock ROM with apps downloaded from let's say th he iTunes store is really much more secure. If a baked ROM can be pulling information behind your back, and somehow bypass security measures written into a banking app, why could not a fart app some momo downloads to be the life of the party do the same?
Flyer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you are right that we are all responsible for our own choices. I just think it is better for all that people can make as informed as choices as possible. That is why discussions like these can be good (even if the article was inflammatory).
To extend your analogy, maybe you think it is your choice to leave your car unprotected. But maybe your insurance company will disagree and try to teach you better? Maybe the police inform you to secure your car because you make more work for them when your car is stolen?
So as a car driver it is your choice, but many might argue that the community of car drivers needs to be educated on the risks of their behavior so that they can make more informed decisions. Then you benefit and the community benefits (keep insurance rates down, free up police resources etc.)
I hope I made sense
votinh said:
Now to other Rom flashers, as long as then understand the risk of doing so, they entitle and fully responsible for their actions, no need to teach them.
Security issue? I drive a car to a bad area, get off, windows still lower, not even care to lock the car. That is my choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd rather take the risk and enjoy life than sit on the sidelines. Considering that all smartphones have vulnerabilities, stock or no, I'll take my chances. I also have a bit of faith left in humanity in general and more so some in communities like XDA and Rootz where the general idea is clearly that these are places for everyone to contribute to everyone else, not to come in and scam.
Let's be real: if someone comes through here and drops something that ends up defrauding other for every person involved in coding the malicious item there are ten more capable devs who will have the motivation to take them to task in most unpleasant ways. I, for one, would not put my butt on the line by choosing a dev forum to release or market my malware.

The Market Incompatibility Final Solution

The short version:
Let's get Google to change the market incompatibility from "You can't have this," to "Are you sure...?" Because quite honestly why waste precious minutes downloading an APK from some unknown source that for all you know could be tempered with and wind up ****ing up your device.
The teal deer version:
There are now numerous threads regarding this issue and I think it's time we had one that was the central place for us to discuss this issue as it's too scattered about and so far all attempts at remedying the issue have been either in vain or temporary. We shouldn't have to suffer so much over something so unnecessary.
The idea is sound, sure, but its ways of going about doing so are very wrong. In the event that an app doesn't work as expected, or at least in suspicion of such, it need only be noted as a warning to the user. So instead of seeing that black bar stating that we can't have app X and have the install button disabled, we should see that same black bar but with a warning and the install button enabled irregardless.
If big brother is worried that because the app is known to have issues on our devices then they need only to disable the ability to rate the app for that specific user. But that's about it, as it's fairer to both parties involved. We shouldn't have to go through the hassle of having to have to keep looking for ways around something that only goes to further slow down progress, or downloading and installing APK files every time there's an update to our apps (some of which were paid for)!
We need to attack the disease at its source rather than treat the symptoms.
What the issue is basically is that "power" users prefer to use tweaked settings that the market doesn't like despite the fact that those same apps Google deems incompatible, when installed as APKs, actually work flawlessly.
I figured we should have this thread focus on the following issues:
---------------------------------------
1. Have something of a Database (or at least a simple list for now) of all the apps that El Goog doesn't want us to install. Just to emphasize the issue as there are quite a bit of apps that work flawlessly and appear in the market, while others aren't (in some cases without the developer's own wishes or knowledge for that matter). And we then label them as working 100% perfectly well or buggy under conditions Y and Z.
We make the list of all apps that are known to be incompatible and actually are! So far I've not encountered a single one. And I've been using my freak device with its freaky settings for a year+ now.
2. This is something I'm still thinking about and am not 100% sure if should be done. Start a petition on Change.org and bring this to big brother's attention as he tends to ignore the little guy. In numbers there's strength.
3. Get a list of app developers who are aware of the issue and support our cause. The reason for three is because I've been in contact with one app developer who was turned down by big brother after pursuing help with this issue because they "don't provide support for custom roms." And it's OK that they don't, as it's reasonable enough. But give us the option of opting out if you think it's wise to, and opt in even if it might cause issue. We're adults for god's sake.
4. Make a list of currently available solutions to fix the so-called 'feature' while we're waiting for an actual fix.
I'll keep this post as updated as I can with the latest known and consistently updated fixes for this 'bug'. Yeah, I said it.
---------------------------------------
So far every single app I used worked flawlessly on my I9100 running CM10 with DorimanX custom kernel. I've set the DPI to 160 and I can't imagine myself going back to anything above that. And to emphasize, I've had these setting (or at least the DPI and CM) for so long now (about a year) that I forget sometimes that I'm using something that isn't exactly 'standard', per se.
I mean, if you can live with the default dpi then that's cool, good for you. But I've had a taste of the forbidden fruit, and now I can't go back. . . .
I'm not going to start crusading just yet. First I'd like your, the community of XDA, input on this issue before we do anything. If you have any suggestions or criticism you'd like to share with us, I'd like to hear it, personally. For I may be wrong about the whole thing. Call it, lacking in confidence.
Thank you.
Reserved, just in case.
Also reserved, just in case.
Well this is fantastic. Congrats on the nerve for writing this freakishly long post. That's what I was thinking since the moment I encountered "I'm sorry, but we think this won't work as planned on your device and we deem you stupid enough to make wrong choices, so we'll just put this install button on this shelf right here, where you can't reach it" error.
However, I just said screw it, there's tons of sites where I can just download what I want without anyone questioning my motives and whether it will work or not. Never thought of it as a big deal, just as a tougher way of doing stuff, but not much I can do about it.
To get to the point, I support this cause, will sign whatever I need to sign, but am to lazy to start it myself Just wanted to give you some support. If you're willing to put some more time into this, maybe this is the beggining of a revolution! Revolution of geeks with custom DPIs! But it's still something damn it!
Cheers mate!
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app
Thank you, Uros. I was happy to read your reply.
It seems that there is no interest in this, however. Very unfortunate, but I suppose if this is what the people want. . . . It was worth a try.
Thanks for your effort.
I am rather curious to know if this is because people were going "tl;dr" or they're genuinely not interested in having this issue fixed. I just need to know so that I could make the proper adjustments.
Granted, it would take a bit longer, but as Goethe said, "I apologize in advance, had I had more time, this letter would be shorter."
Or is it that most people believe that the odds of getting Google to listen to us are too small?
There's a reason why Google won't give us the option to install anyway, just as there's a reason as to why this probably hasn't been noticed by as many people as preferred.
It all comes down to noobs.
Regarding this thread, the noobs are probably coming across this thread and click because they're interested by the title. They see all the text and think "F&#k that!". Unfortunately, that is generally the noob mentality.
Maybe colouring some of the text and spacing it out a little bit more could help the cause, but only time would tell.
Now onto the matter at hand.
I personally don't think Google will allow us to install apps anyway (even though I think they should) because noobs are super dangerous to themselves. In general, noobs won't read which then means that if they go to install an app which isn't compatible and install it anyway, they won't read that it could potentially harm their device.
The other type of user to make a mistake when it comes to installing such apps, would be the general android population. After all, us here on XDA are but a small proportion of Android users globally. Just because we have knowledge about what should and shouldn't be on our devices and how to make things work which shouldn't, the average Android user isn't the same.
They'd probably see the message and simply think "It says it could harm my phone but it's a great phone so nothing will go wrong". That is where problems can then occur.
The noobs and the average android owner would then have mucked up their device in one way or another and would be blaming and complaining to Google (as if it was Google's mistake). That makes it cause more harm than good, hence why I don't think it will happen.
Just my 2 cents, of course
''Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver''

Phone hacked need advise and guidance

Hi
I know that this will sound like another hacked story but I know what to do.
My phone got hacked couple of months back.i didnt know it was untill the hacker started to leave clues. It was then that i started really payibg attention to everything going on. but keeping quiet abort it so that he or she thinks i didn't know
I know of 3 incidents that may have conpronised my security coupled by the fact that I did not practice password hygiene or unique ones for all accounts. I know that its totally my fault and i am not goings to blane Android os. So please dont think of this as one of tjose posts
What i now need is help in understanding what tondo next.
Little details on what happens, lets say i get search for some one on Facebook. The same is Charles smith, I Finish off my search and open Instagram boom i see a pictures where recommended shows a google search page where Charles is written and the Google auto complete is giving options .
Happened twice
I tumlr and I don't really post anything in fact My blog is totally blank. Suddenly i have people followings me and they tend of hame my nick name as their user id .the id displays my WhatsApp status updates.
These and just two examples i have more but i think everyone gets whats going on.
things i have done to prevent such occurences factory formatting the phones mac abd router. Gotten new routers and ready to flash a custom firmware for them.
Password changes .everything.wps2 aes wifi password with random numbers upper case lower case n symbols
Passwords are written on paper without a electronic backup and under lock and key.
I thought that maybe its a key logger but i took my moto x2 n moto e2 to the service center and got them to re load official software.
Two days later bam the same thing.
Any suggestion on where the weakness is ?
The problem is that I am kind of tired if thi
Sent from my XT1092 using XDA Forums
Check account sync settings if it is on more applications can use various private data.
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Free mobile app
i dont understand?
can u explain , i have sync on should I not have it
on different note does anyone suggest rooting and installing something that can isolate and restrict data from being accessed. now i know that exposed does that and marshmallow will work that out. but any other guidance ?
Did you use a virus or malware scanner?
Are there any apps you didn't install on your phone?
If i were you, i would start with doing the following steps by their exact order to get rid of the hacker and operate on a "safe" system.
1- Backup personal files to pc and deep scan them with virus scanner, make sure they're clean.
2- Unlock the bootloader of device and flash every image manually with fastboot from stock factory image.
3- After flashing the images, go to stock recovery and wipe data / factory reset and wipe cache for a complete, untouched system.
4- Change account passwords with stuff that are unrelated to you. I mean if you made a google search for firedance, don't include dance or fire in any your passwords.
* also change the " forgot my password " questions and their answers.
5- Once you boot the system, download any ota packages from the manufacturer to be sure you'd be on a safer and patched software for security.
For future securtity, be sure to check apps permissions before installing anything from google play or external places. Don't root your device and don't enable USB Debugging in developer options. Hope it helps.
Semseddin said:
If i were you, i would start with doing the following steps by their exact order to get rid of the hacker and operate on a "safe" system.
1- Backup personal files to pc and deep scan them with virus scanner, make sure they're clean.
2- Unlock the bootloader of device and flash every image manually with fastboot from stock factory image.
3- After flashing the images, go to stock recovery and wipe data / factory reset and wipe cache for a complete, untouched system.
4- Change account passwords with stuff that are unrelated to you. I mean if you made a google search for firedance, don't include dance or fire in any your passwords.
* also change the " forgot my password " questions and their answers.
5- Once you boot the system, download any ota packages from the manufacturer to be sure you'd be on a safer and patched software for security.
For future securtity, be sure to check apps permissions before installing anything from google play or external places. Don't root your device and don't enable USB Debugging in developer options. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't Root your device? Don't check USB debugging? Seriously? That is your answer? Wow, do you work for Verizon or AT&T by some chance? Sorry, but with Root and some nicely placed Xposed modules, this persons phone or tablet would be more safe than anything g Verizon or AT &THE could conjure up. You are a dope! Lol! Seriously, go away. Bother another community. ?
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Jaytronics said:
Don't Root your device? Don't check USB debugging? Seriously? That is your answer? Wow, do you work for Verizon or AT&T by some chance? Sorry, but with Root and some nicely placed Xposed modules, this persons phone or tablet would be more safe than anything g Verizon or AT &THE could conjure up. You are a dope! Lol! Seriously, go away. Bother another community. ?
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pardon me but where does that come from ? Made me laugh. Since this is security forum, the first priority is security not your "nicely put xposed modules whatever that means". It is said many times by security experts rooting an android device removes a big portion of layer of security. I unfortunately don't work for AT&T or Verizon but i wish i worked for them for a nice salary.
This one is coming from the recognized developer and moderator of XDA Android Security forum. Someone who have exploited devices and found vulrenabiliies that you can't even dream of. Lets say i am a "dope" and you're the smart guy. Are jcase, steve kondik dopes as well ?
http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/secu...-have-android-settings-from-a-security-expert
http://www.dailytech.com/CyanogenMod+Creator+Tells+Android+Users+to+Rethink+Rooting/article33058.htm ( yeah, even steve kondik doesn't approve rooting for general users.
https://blog.kaspersky.com/rooting-and-jailbreaking/1979/ " Kasperksky a security platform well known for years are also against rooting.
Think again if you can who is the dope, now, go bother in your nicely put xposed modules forums for the sake of security. :good:
Semseddin said:
Pardon me but where does that come from ? Made me laugh. Since this is security forum, the first priority is security not your "nicely put xposed modules whatever that means". It is said many times by security experts rooting an android device removes a big portion of layer of security. I unfortunately don't work for AT&T or Verizon but i wish i worked for them for a nice salary.
This one is coming from the recognized developer and moderator of XDA Android Security forum. Someone who have exploited devices and found vulrenabiliies that you can't even dream of. Lets say i am a "dope" and you're the smart guy. Are jcase, steve kondik dopes as well ?
http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/secu...-have-android-settings-from-a-security-expert
http://www.dailytech.com/CyanogenMod+Creator+Tells+Android+Users+to+Rethink+Rooting/article33058.htm ( yeah, even steve kondik doesn't approve rooting for general users.
https://blog.kaspersky.com/rooting-and-jailbreaking/1979/ " Kasperksky a security platform well known for years are also against rooting.
Think again if you can who is the dope, now, go bother in your nicely put xposed modules forums for the sake of security. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a dope, I suppose that Root is a security risk. But, just because a device is not Rooted, does not mean it is secure by any stretch of the imagination. Truthfully, they are more unsecured if locked out from the user. That is, if the person is not a dope. What I am saying is that your advice, for the OP to take every update and not Root, was not really that helpful. If the OP installed an app that was a risk, then all the updates and non Root, will not help them. Now, if you were to show them, that if they were to Root, and use certain apps and modules on their device. Then they could keep a better eye out for potential problems. But, even if they did as I just said. If the OP is being a dope, and installing apps that, let's say, they obtained from a torrent site. Then, well, dope would be a fitting title for them as well.
And, if those recognized developers stated that Root was not good at all. Then yes, dope would be a fitting application of the word. Root is only bad for those that are dopes.
I believe that you inadvertently called the OP a dope. You did not help them all that well. What you did was help them to get rid of the problem temporarily. Do we know who apps are on their device? It would be a good idea to know these things. Also, where did they get these apps from? Kind of a big deal there.
But, if you were wondering what it is that I am talking about in regards to xposed. Look it up.
http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer
I suggest the OP do the same. As well as anyone else who is having g issues. Now, knowing about xposed and the modules that can accompany it. Will not fully protect anyone from blatant stupidity. Read, read, read. And practice safe device use. There are so many avenues to protecting g ones self. But a big one that anyone can do. Don't download from shady places. Though, it is even very possible to get in trouble from apps from the Play store. Knowing what apps are asking for what permissions is important. What bothered me about your post is that you in the same post, stated for them to unlock the bootloader and then, to not root. Verizon and AT&T are advocates of the no Root behavior. And that sickens me. As well as many others. Instead of helping g people to see the dangers. They are told to do the most simplest of tasks, not to Root. And that they would be fine. Absolutely and completely false and misleading. Now, and again, for a dope. I suppose this would be fine. Though, it is not helpful. Education into matters are. One needs to seek out the underlying issue first. Then attempt to educate. As far as calling you a dope, I do humbly apologize for my Choi e of words. You did not deserve that. It would have been just fine for me to build onto what you suggested. Which was good advice. So, I am sorry. And yes, I am very much a dope at times .
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Jaytronics said:
For a dope, I suppose that Root is a security risk. But, just because a device is not Rooted, does not mean it is secure by any stretch of the imagination. Truthfully, they are more unsecured if locked out from the user. That is, if the person is not a dope. What I am saying is that your advice, for the OP to take every update and not Root, was not really that helpful. If the OP installed an app that was a risk, then all the updates and non Root, will not help them. Now, if you were to show them, that if they were to Root, and use certain apps and modules on their device. Then they could keep a better eye out for potential problems. But, even if they did as I just said. If the OP is being a dope, and installing apps that, let's say, they obtained from a torrent site. Then, well, dope would be a fitting title for them as well.
And, if those recognized developers stated that Root was not good at all. Then yes, dope would be a fitting application of the word. Root is only bad for those that are dopes.
I believe that you inadvertently called the OP a dope. You did not help them all that well. What you did was help them to get rid of the problem temporarily. Do we know who apps are on their device? It would be a good idea to know these things. Also, where did they get these apps from? Kind of a big deal there.
But, if you were wondering what it is that I am talking about in regards to xposed. Look it up.
http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer
I suggest the OP do the same. As well as anyone else who is having g issues. Now, knowing about xposed and the modules that can accompany it. Will not fully protect anyone from blatant stupidity. Read, read, read. And practice safe device use. There are so many avenues to protecting g ones self. But a big one that anyone can do. Don't download from shady places. Though, it is even very possible to get in trouble from apps from the Play store. Knowing what apps are asking for what permissions is important. What bothered me about your post is that you in the same post, stated for them to unlock the bootloader and then, to not root. Verizon and AT&T are advocates of the no Root behavior. And that sickens me. As well as many others. Instead of helping g people to see the dangers. They are told to do the most simplest of tasks, not to Root. And that they would be fine. Absolutely and completely false and misleading. Now, and again, for a dope. I suppose this would be fine. Though, it is not helpful. Education into matters are. One needs to seek out the underlying issue first. Then attempt to educate. As far as calling you a dope, I do humbly apologize for my Choi e of words. You did not deserve that. It would have been just fine for me to build onto what you suggested. Which was good advice. So, I am sorry. And yes, I am very much a dope at times .
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Humble apology accepted.
You may not like AT&T and Verizon for their tight stance against rooting.I don't like that as well. They're filling their devices with their bloatware and excluding some very useful features from their customers like hotspot for free. However, Anyone who owns an operator variant of a specific device have already signed a contract with his operator already accepted their terms and that's why they get their bloated and controlled devices for cheaper prices in long term instead of paying full in cash. That said, i see nothing wrong with AT&T or Verizon's policy of keeping their devices locked to death since rooting would take a stake from their business and that was not their agreement with their customers. This is not the subject of this thread for sure. Should add, i see nothing wrong if a contracted owner a device wants to take full potencial out of it by rooting since it is the only way for them to get rid of bs in their devices. This is another discussion, not related to this thread.
I will use the word " regular user " instead of "dope" since nobody have to be knowledgeful about android security. Being someone without a clue of android security wouldn't make them a "dope". I currently sport a Moto Maxx, a bootloader unlockable variant of Verizon Droid Turbo sold in Brazil. I paid about 150$ more just to be free of Verizon Bloatware for the exact same hardware. I could have paid 150$ less and bought a Verizon Droid Turbo but i didn't just because i knew i would have Verizons' bs running in my phone every second. There used to be a time for me when rooting was a must with android because i used to own devices bloated with Motoblur, having low amount of ram and storage as well as unavailbility of disabling/deleting of unwanted apps. Now, i have 3gb of ram and 64gb storage with near Vanilla Android experience with my phone. I asked myself, what the heck do i need rooting for ? The answer was easy : nothing.
Lets say, android is an apartment, the root is the key to its door, xposed is the "watchdog" and hacker is the "thief". Would you keep the door unlocked and rely on a dog for its security ? I personally wouldn't do that cause the dogs can be fooled easily by a piece of meat and most importantly they have no responsibility at all. After all, It is just a dog serving for free without any responsibility. I couldn't ask for insurance as well cause i was the one who kept the door unlocked. I am also aware that any door can be opened without a key and the dog can be bypassed easily and the hacker can get whatever he wants. Things will happen if they're destined to be happen, we can't avoid some. Still, it is always our responsibility to keep the door locked in the first place and take counter measurements against. That was what i was pointing in my post.
Disabling USB debugging is the first thing one should do if there're concerns about security and this is not coming from a "dope" but security experts of android. :good:
Semseddin said:
Lets say, android is an apartment, the root is the key to its door, xposed is the "watchdog" and hacker is the "thief". Would you keep the door unlocked and rely on a dog for its security ? I personally wouldn't do that cause the dogs can be fooled easily by a piece of meat and most importantly they have no responsibility at all. After all, It is just a dog serving for free without any responsibility. I couldn't ask for insurance as well cause i was the one who kept the door unlocked. I am also aware that any door can be opened without a key and the dog can be bypassed easily and the hacker can get whatever he wants. Things will happen if they're destined to be happen, we can't avoid some. Still, it is always our responsibility to keep the door locked in the first place and take counter measurements against. That was what i was pointing in my post.
Disabling USB debugging is the first thing one should do if there're concerns about security and this is not coming from a "dope" but security experts of android. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To show how ridiculously and persistently wrong you are, I am going to use your above example. If root is your key, then what you are doing is giving that key to Google and device manufacturer, while throwing your own copy away. In your own apartment, you are only allowed to go where google and verizon let you. This makes no sense whatsoever, unless the apartment owner is a real dope (no personal offence meant).
Disabling usb debugging also sounds like an aria from the same opera. If the device is on your person, this provides no additional security at all, as usb debugging is only relevant when your phone is connected to computer. If someone physically takes your device, it would take 10 seconds to enable debugging.
Root provides you an opportunity to control your device and restrict system apps, thereby reducing possibilities for hackers to take over your phone... As I have already mentioned before, every operating system provides root access to users. The only reason it is not done on smart phones is becase manufacturers, carriers and OS providers want to turn users into walking advertising beacon-dopes. Again, no offence meant...
optimumpro said:
To show how ridiculously and persistently wrong you are, I am going to use your above example. If root is your key, then what you are doing is giving that key to Google and device manufacturer, while throwing your own copy away. In your own apartment, you are only allowed to go where google and verizon let you. This makes no sense whatsoever, unless the apartment owner is a real dope (no personal offence meant).
Disabling usb debugging also sounds like an aria from the same opera. If the device is on your person, this provides no additional security at all, as usb debugging is only relevant when your phone is connected to computer. If someone physically takes your device, it would take 10 seconds to enable debugging.
Root provides you an opportunity to control your device and restrict system apps, thereby reducing possibilities for hackers to take over your phone... As I have already mentioned before, every operating system provides root access to users. The only reason it is not done on smart phones is becase manufacturers, carriers and OS providers want to turn users into walking advertising beacon-dopes. Again, no offence meant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your point, respect it but disagree. Your example doesn't really work with my logic since you're putting players like Google/Verizon in the same league with an hacker. Yes, they for sure have control over their software since they're the one who created Android and offered the hardware along with an oem in the first place. These big companies are not like 3rd party devs who are irresponsible for any their actions.. If you happen to have sensetive privacy trust issues with Google, leave any android device out, you wouldn't even use google search in your pc.
A hacker having pyshical access to a device who would enable USB debugging in 5 seconds. is this what we're really talking about ? Anyone who have a device in hand doesn't need to be a hacker to get data from it. Have a coffee with the target sitting next to to him, memorize his passcode Done. Another way is to flash twrp and give some adb shell commands to bypass any lockscreen code. Done. USB debugging ON help with apk rooters and computer based root exploits as well.They rely on usb debugging to be on. You're hacked in no time.
I just can't trust any 3rd party dev more than my device manufacturer / operating system provider and network provider. I think the same for you like you're persistently and ridiciolusly wrong by giving too much credit to some unknown sources instead of those who have an actual business address. :good:
Just kiss each other already or dont say anything.
This thread is made by someone who needs help and you two both are taking it off topic instead of helping him. Now out of respect for that user, stop this endless conversation.
Semseddin said:
I see your point, respect it but disagree. Your example doesn't really work with my logic since you're putting players like Google/Verizon in the same league with an hacker. Yes, they for sure have control over their software since they're the one who created Android and offered the hardware along with an oem in the first place. These big companies are not like 3rd party devs who are irresponsible for any their actions.. If you happen to have sensetive privacy trust issues with Google, leave any android device out, you wouldn't even use google search in your pc.
A hacker having pyshical access to a device who would enable USB debugging in 5 seconds. is this what we're really talking about ? Anyone who have a device in hand doesn't need to be a hacker to get data from it. Have a coffee with the target sitting next to to him, memorize his passcode Done. Another way is to flash twrp and give some adb shell commands to bypass any lockscreen code. Done. USB debugging ON help with apk rooters and computer based root exploits as well.They rely on usb debugging to be on. You're hacked in no time.
I just can't trust any 3rd party dev more than my device manufacturer / operating system provider and network provider. I think the same for you like you're persistently and ridiciolusly wrong by giving too much credit to some unknown sources instead of those who have an actual business address. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not about respect, disrespect or disagreements. The facts (not opinions) remain: every operating system on Earth provides root or administrative privileges to users. However, it is not given to the same user when he turns to a smartphone. There is no security reason whatsoever why a user has root on computer and no root on a smartphone.
As I have already said, there are plenty of non-security reasons for the above: the main one being to prevent the user from removing advertising junk and spying malware inserted there by manufacturers, carriers and software providers. Kids love it (above three) and Mother (NSA) approves...
Every argument against root invalidates itself when applied to computer OS: remember the user is the same.
@its the peanut
Please stop patronizing. This is a security discussion thread and we discuss security, which is beneficial to the poor guy, the OP... :silly:
Semseddin, what do you do to stop fastboot?
rooting and knowledge go hand in hand, the OP states device is rooted, but sounds like hasn't got the interest to know what's behind the process. that is why we don't have the slightest piece of evidence that his device has been compromised. just the users opinion that it has.
having su and adb debugging at least allows them to logcat.

Categories

Resources