Hi developpers. I
My droid phone verson 4.1.2 was stolen last friday. But I was able to track the phone, confront with the thief and recover my phone two days later.
And that's why I am writing in this forum, because I want to share my experience and see if things can be done.....
The thief, stupid guy, removed all my sim cards (dual sim) and removed the memory card, but failed to do the necessary resets and did not remove my google account.
I don't want any lock screen system on my phone. And I strongly recommend everybody not to put a lock screen protection on your phone, because if there is one, the phone might just end straight into the trash bin, and you'll be left with no chance to find back your beloved Droid.
Let the thief in his beliefs it's his lucky day.... he has a nice unprotected full useable phone....
Also have Remotely locate this device enabled in the google settings, or get one of these hidden tracking apps on your phon.. Also enable allow remote lock and factory resets. The thief was so stupid he forgot to disable this feature of the phone.
Now here is my point. The Google Settings should be password protected. And it should be a shared password with the phone settings/Personal/ BACKUP AND RESET option.
At least, password protecting these two sections of the phone will avoid the thief to:
1. Disable the geo location of your phone
2. Doing a factory reset or remove any of the accounts on your phone.
Unless the thief is also a hacker, you will always be able to track your phone and get it back.
In my case, I tracked down the thief, up to 4m accuracy. I also have a Bluetooth speaker. I went to the Geo location and my Bluetooth speaker confirmed big time the phone was at this location.
Another thing to consider is to build INTO the OS itself is the option to track your phone. There are many programs on Google Play, but they can all be removed easily with a simple factory reset. This kind of software should be build in INTO the phone's OS itself.
Good luck to all of you who get your phone stolen!
oz457 said:
Hi developpers. I
My droid phone verson 4.1.2 was stolen last friday. But I was able to track the phone, confront with the thief and recover my phone two days later.
And that's why I am writing in this forum, because I want to share my experience and see if things can be done.....
The thief, stupid guy, removed all my sim cards (dual sim) and removed the memory card, but failed to do the necessary resets and did not remove my google account.
I don't want any lock screen system on my phone. And I strongly recommend everybody not to put a lock screen protection on your phone, because if there is one, the phone might just end straight into the trash bin, and you'll be left with no chance to find back your beloved Droid.
Let the thief in his beliefs it's his lucky day.... he has a nice unprotected full useable phone....
Also have Remotely locate this device enabled in the google settings, or get one of these hidden tracking apps on your phon.. Also enable allow remote lock and factory resets. The thief was so stupid he forgot to disable this feature of the phone.
Now here is my point. The Google Settings should be password protected. And it should be a shared password with the phone settings/Personal/ BACKUP AND RESET option.
At least, password protecting these two sections of the phone will avoid the thief to:
1. Disable the geo location of your phone
2. Doing a factory reset or remove any of the accounts on your phone.
Unless the thief is also a hacker, you will always be able to track your phone and get it back.
In my case, I tracked down the thief, up to 4m accuracy. I also have a Bluetooth speaker. I went to the Geo location and my Bluetooth speaker confirmed big time the phone was at this location.
Another thing to consider is to build INTO the OS itself is the option to track your phone. There are many programs on Google Play, but they can all be removed easily with a simple factory reset. This kind of software should be build in INTO the phone's OS itself.
Good luck to all of you who get your phone stolen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why you should use Software to prevent this. There are lots of tracking/AntiThief Software available. Noone will put it to trash when its locked,
mynote said:
This is why you should use Software to prevent this. There are lots of tracking/AntiThief Software available. Noone will put it to trash when its locked,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question is if software will really help....
You're lucky.
The thief, stupid guy. If He smart than, he can google and reboot your phone in to recovery, and he can Wipe all of your data.
And your phone will gone forever
andy-q said:
The question is if software will really help....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It is. 9 of 10 of my customers are happy and got ist device back after stolen/lost.
Just for the statistics..
The only shortcoming with the tracking/remote lock/wipe abilities is that they can still be defeated through CWM or whatever recovery is being used. That said, in most situations involving theft the thief doesn't have this level of knowledge to consider this step.
What's interesting to me is that so many people still steal phones for personal use, but I guess the stolen ESN database isn't far reaching enough yet to make it a stolen phone worthless for use yet. There is still some cash to be made selling them off for the hardware, but grabbing someone's phone doesn't seem worth a felony IMO.
As to the OP, a lock screen isn't worthless, especially if you have a non-removable battery. Most phones with them--an active lock screen I mean--either won't allow or can be set to disallow the phone being turned off without the code/pattern/password being entered, meaning if your phone is tossed in the trash it can still be recovered. That is one feature that will always make an integrated battery a plus. Even without one, there's the chance that the thief isn't going to take the time to pull the battery once he see's there's active security anyway.
MissionImprobable said:
The only shortcoming with the tracking/remote lock/wipe abilities is that they can still be defeated through CWM or whatever recovery is being used. That said, in most situations involving theft the thief doesn't have this level of knowledge to consider this step.
What's interesting to me is that so many people still steal phones for personal use, but I guess the stolen ESN database isn't far reaching enough yet to make it a stolen phone worthless for use yet. There is still some cash to be made selling them off for the hardware, but grabbing someone's phone doesn't seem worth a felony IMO.
As to the OP, a lock screen isn't worthless, especially if you have a non-removable battery. Most phones with them--an active lock screen I mean--either won't allow or can be set to disallow the phone being turned off without the code/pattern/password being entered, meaning if your phone is tossed in the trash it can still be recovered. That is one feature that will always make an integrated battery a plus. Even without one, there's the chance that the thief isn't going to take the time to pull the battery once he see's there's active security anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, true. Anyway. Even if you are just loosing your phone instead of getting stolen..
I consider that the thief will trash the phone when there is a lockscreen. Mostly the thief will try to look for "Reset-Possibilities". If you have a good AntiThief Software you may also disable the lockscreen when you feel that its the only way to get it back.
Anyway, there is Google Android Device Manager now which can get your device back easily..
When stolen/lost phone comes back I would check it for spyware
2 stolen phones never came back to me. :'(
Grievances. RIP .
alaminok said:
2 stolen phones never came back to me. :'(
Grievances. RIP .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never got my stolen items back either but grats to the OP
This is the perfect thread for a question I've had ever since I came to the Android family from my iPhone.
On my Jailbroken iPhone I was able to download an app that took a picture with the front camera and sent it to the email of my choice every time the wrong password was entered, the photo came along with the GPS location of the phone and time.
Is there anything like this available for us
Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk now Free
yoboyheartless said:
This is the perfect thread for a question I've had ever since I came to the Android family from my iPhone.
On my Jailbroken iPhone I was able to download an app that took a picture with the front camera and sent it to the email of my choice every time the wrong password was entered, the photo came along with the GPS location of the phone and time.
Is there anything like this available for us
Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk now Free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here Try Ceberus, its a paid app but worth it and you can have up to 5 devices at once, it even disguies itself as a system app you can view calls, text messages and even make the phone call any other phone track it via GPS..... a bunch of features
(Heres some features It has three ways to protect your device:
- Remote control through the website www.cerberusapp.com
- Remote control via text messages
- SIM Checker (for devices that have a SIM card): you will automatically receive alerts if someone uses your phone with an unauthorized SIM card
Remote control allows you to perform many operations on your device, like:
- Locate and track it
- Start a loud alarm, even if the device is set to silent mode
- Wipe the internal memory and the SD card
- Hide Cerberus from the app drawer
- Lock the device with a code
- Record audio from the microphone
- Get a list of last calls sent and received
- Get information about network and operator the device is connected to
- And much more!)
Link---> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lsdroid.cerberus
if thieves are smart, they would have been reading xda
but thanks
If thieves were smart, they would be educated enough to get a job and buy their own sh*t!
I use Cerberus as well on both my droids. Very neat app, and even more advanced than FindMyiPhone or whatever it's called again. Recommended with root for all features though.
Glad you got lucky and a non-tech savvy thief stole your phone.
cerberus
Cerberus celebrates 3rd birthday with free licenses for the next 30 hours
http://phandroid.com/2014/04/24/cerberus-3rd-birthday-free-license/
I had a phone lost/stolen. It is such a personal item it is like having your wallet stolen. Fortunately I never use the remember password feature for any apps, and have an encrypted password file I keep up to date and backed up.When I lost my phone I went to all the sites and changed my passwords. What a pia, but it is some peace of mind. Took many hours.
With t-mo, they have this feature available that takes a picture after 5 mis-trys and emails it along with the location, T-mo will also erase the phone and reset the lock screen pattern, It works pretty good because I have sent numerous pics of myself from fatfingerin the unlock.and checked the map to verify.
I prefer Cerberus...
oz457 said:
Hi developpers. I
My droid phone verson 4.1.2 was stolen last friday. But I was able to track the phone, confront with the thief and recover my phone two days later.
And that's why I am writing in this forum, because I want to share my experience and see if things can be done.....
The thief, stupid guy, removed all my sim cards (dual sim) and removed the memory card, but failed to do the necessary resets and did not remove my google account.
I don't want any lock screen system on my phone. And I strongly recommend everybody not to put a lock screen protection on your phone, because if there is one, the phone might just end straight into the trash bin, and you'll be left with no chance to find back your beloved Droid.
Let the thief in his beliefs it's his lucky day.... he has a nice unprotected full useable phone....
Also have Remotely locate this device enabled in the google settings, or get one of these hidden tracking apps on your phon.. Also enable allow remote lock and factory resets. The thief was so stupid he forgot to disable this feature of the phone.
Now here is my point. The Google Settings should be password protected. And it should be a shared password with the phone settings/Personal/ BACKUP AND RESET option.
At least, password protecting these two sections of the phone will avoid the thief to:
1. Disable the geo location of your phone
2. Doing a factory reset or remove any of the accounts on your phone.
Unless the thief is also a hacker, you will always be able to track your phone and get it back.
In my case, I tracked down the thief, up to 4m accuracy. I also have a Bluetooth speaker. I went to the Geo location and my Bluetooth speaker confirmed big time the phone was at this location.
Another thing to consider is to build INTO the OS itself is the option to track your phone. There are many programs on Google Play, but they can all be removed easily with a simple factory reset. This kind of software should be build in INTO the phone's OS itself.
Good luck to all of you who get your phone stolen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for all the info. My biggest concern would be confronting the thief. What did you do? Wait for them to leave their house/apartment and confront them? Or did you confront them in some other way? I guess I would struggle between wanting my beloved phone back and being worried about the thief being a crazy person who might shoot me or something.
This Was Very Helpful
This is Very Helpful, We Wish We Had Known this when we had our phone stolen, I spent endless hours trying to locate my phone to no avail, thank goodness the Police were able to recuperate the phone, but only because the thief had stolen a number of other devices in the area, if I had known this information I would have saved myself hours of frustration !! BTW, Thank You For Sharing This !
Related
Greetings,
I recently had my phone stolen when someone smashed my car window and grabbed my phone and GPS unit. I was thinking about ways to either deter theives or perhaps even catch them after the fact.
My first thought was some sort of program on the phone that would send information about the phone back to a user specified email address. For example, let's say the person installs a new SIM card and powers up the phone. The program could auto-run and send you the new phone number now assigned to the phone. I am not sure how this would work for non-SIM phones as I don't understand how those phones get their "phone number". In addition to the phone number it could send any informaiton like Owner Info that also might help identify the person now in possession of the phone.
My second thought was why not tap into the GPS device that so many phones are now equipped with and send GPS coordinates as well. This might be difficult if the phone company locks access to the GPS functionality.
Last but not least I was wondering if there might not be a way to determine that a new SIM card was installed, even if a master reset was done on the phone. The big problem here is that you would need to have the code included as part of the firmware as a master reset might possible wipe out any internal memory on the phone. It might be interesting to flash a warning on the main screen of the phone indicating that "This Phone is Stolen" if someone tried to put their own SIM or reprogram the phone with their phone number.
Naturally I know you can "lock" the phone which will render it useless but that won't necessarily help you get it back. I figure most of these "smartphones" have enough intelligence to at least send out a text message or something.
Has anyone seen anything like this or have any ideas on what might be possible?
Thanks
TC
There are several different software packages that already do this. One is called W.I.M.P. - Where Is My Phone:
http://www.wimp-software.co.uk/
Doh! I should have used Google.
Thanks for the tip.
Anyone using WIMP? I have the demo version and am having issues getting the GPS to work. Windows Live and Google Maps work fine. Not sure why WIMP is having issues.
What???
cowboyshootist said:
I recently had my phone stolen when someone smashed my car window and grabbed my phone and GPS unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you leave this laying around in you car? My Tilt (or any phone for that matter), electronic device, and wife () always leave the car with me....
mchapman007 said:
Why would you leave this laying around in you car? My Tilt (or any phone for that matter), electronic device, and wife () always leave the car with me....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I was heading into the LA Fitness gym in Mill Creek WA. There are generally lots of people coming and going in and out of the gym and Mill Creek is not what you would call a high crime area. The phone was not in plain sight but in the cup holder between the front seats and you would have to look real hard to even know it was there.
It was actually the GPS unit that attracted the thief. Normally I put that in the glove box and take my phone with me but as I mentioned above I didn't think I was in an area where I had to worry about car break-ins.
Even so, phones get stolen all the time. My daughter had hers stolen right out of her purse at her High School. It can happen even when you don't think it can. Applications like WIMP or PhoneBak are the only defense you have against something like this. Given the technology that exists in smartphones there's no reason they can't report themselves stolen and if they have gps (like the Moto Q9) even give you their location.
The funny thing is the thief was stupid enough to put his contacts onto the phone without having done a hard reset. The next day all his contacts were synch'd to my new phone and I now know who stole the phone.
Sprite Terminator is another one that does all of the things you want, remote lock / wipe / gps , etc
Thanks Dave.
KMS
Dave G said:
Sprite Terminator is another one that does all of the things you want, remote lock / wipe / gps , etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's also Kaspersky Mobile Security for XDAs - you can block sms acces, wipe PIM data and it has a nice little feature that will send out SMSs to two numbers of your choice if the SIM is swapped, then block the unit until you enter a code - thus giving you the new mobile number to take to the police! only takes them about 20 mins to find the name and address of the thief!
http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/kaspersky_mobile_security
And it's got a firewall and antivirus thrown in, too!
Bird
Bird_FAT said:
There's also Kaspersky Mobile Security for XDAs - you can block sms acces, wipe PIM data and it has a nice little feature that will send out SMSs to two numbers of your choice if the SIM is swapped, then block the unit until you enter a code - thus giving you the new mobile number to take to the police! only takes them about 20 mins to find the name and address of the thief!
http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/kaspersky_mobile_security
And it's got a firewall and antivirus thrown in, too!
Bird
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I was aware of this product. I am not too keen on annual subscriptions but it certainly seems to have all the features you might want for cellular phone security.
Mobile justice, it's freeware.
Bye
Hi if you installed kaspersky mobile security latest version, and you forgot the code? how can you reset code or change code to newone?
Thanks
Scenario: I've left my phone behind at the pub, or in someone's car. I don't want them to use my phone for pranks or, worse, illegal calls. I want to remotely reboot the phone because whomever finds the phone will be presented with the phone's PIN lock screen.
Has anyone found a way to have an action performed by inspecting the contents of, say, a SMS message?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=594608
crimson lock is the closest thing you can find i believe
Thanks, that looks awesome. I like advanced features like "If a different SIM is inserted, send SMS to [emergency number]..."
I have a good history with phones, so I probably won't go that route - and, watch, I probably just jinxed myself.
http://remotetracker.sourceforge.net/
(free) Will let you lock your phone if it is stolen - as well as tracking it down
via gps and many other features.
I think it's possible to add this kind of security to a flashed rom as well,
so that even if a thief does a hard reset, you will still be able to talk to your phone.
SWEET! Thanks!
Well lets assume your android device has been stolen! Good lord !! . Not to worry, this guide should hopefully help you recover it. Even if its a thief.
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
The phone is ON and is connecting to the Wi-Fi.
The phone is still tied to the primary gmail account and is thus reporting location.
The SIM has been removed or changed since the original number is now switched off
The person does not have good knowledge of using a smart phone (maybe helping staff)
Steps we have taken
Since we assume it is in the possession of either a student or helping staff we don't want to startle him.
Tried Plan-B on my phone. However the location it was reporting was the same as Google Latitude.
The phone does have Where is my Droid installed but the web interface says invalid email ID. So that option is ruled out unless you have pre configured Where is my Droid previously.
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
This app will wake up the registration process on the androidlost app when ever a phone call is made, an SMS received, battery is low, a package is added, removed or changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!
maverick340 said:
Well lets assume your android device has been stolen! Good lord !! . Not to worry, this guide should hopefully help you recover it. Even if its a thief.
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
The phone is ON and is connecting to the Wi-Fi.
The phone is still tied to the primary gmail account and is thus reporting location.
The SIM has been removed or changed since the original number is now switched off
The person does not have good knowledge of using a smart phone (maybe helping staff)
Steps we have taken
Since we assume it is in the possession of either a student or helping staff we don't want to startle him.
Tried Plan-B on my phone. However the location it was reporting was the same as Google Latitude.
The phone does have Where is my Droid installed but the web interface says invalid email ID. So that option is ruled out unless you have pre configured Where is my Droid previously.
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or install Avast anti theft before your phone gets stolen ;D never the less, very useful, thank you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
okmijnlp said:
Or install Avast anti theft before your phone gets stolen ;D never the less, very useful, thank you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep always good to be safe before hand. After this incident lot of my friends have installed or gotten some security app.
Although, aren't security suite like Avast, McAfee and overkill for finding lost phones?
And who was the thief?
Sent from my LG Optimus 2x with xda premium app
another possibility is to instal Cerberus App
Hi everyone. I have recently been the victim of theft for my nexus 7. I had the device locked with the pattern so there is no way that the thief could get into it unless they do a software reset from the recovery mode. The thing is, either way there is no way i would be able to recover it because if in fact they do a factory reset my lookout security would be uninstalled and my nexus would be lost forever, also if they can't get through the pattern and find a way to connect to Wi-Fi, it will still be lost forever. I have read about installing lookout in the system/app folder of a rooted device so its not easily uninstalled by normal means or factory reset. But do you think it is possible to have android lost and lookout pre-configured and installed in the system/app folder so that even if the device is factory reset, the credentials will remain?
is it factory-reset proof?
Just a quick little question: How did you get the phone to register on Android Lost? I can't get a friend's phone to be recognized in the web app, after installing the Jumpstart and another app...
Thank you
Very good contribution, gratz! i will follow your steps in case my android get stolen!
How did it fail?
You say that "after Where's my Droid failed us"...what do you mean by that...how did it "fail"? I would like to know before installing it. What exactly happened that it "failed" you?
Thanks
Losing a phone is irritating
I lost my phone sometime back. I didn't have the time to do research and maybe these apps weren't available at the time of theft. I got the SIM de-activated and tried to track my phone via IMEI number.
So, a few questions
1. Have they changed its IMEI number ?
2. Have they removed my Google account ?
This pretty much messes it up. If you can't track it via IMEI nor can you use any network then its as good as history. These were the only remaining identification tags that could have got your phone back and the thief would know of it. The moment I called on my own number he switched it off. He logged into my account and posted crap(not that I knew any of it had it not been for my friend who reported some strange FB and Twitter status) as if it wasn't enough that he had my phone.
One of the most disturbing things that they can do is play with the IMEI. Older phones were more susceptible to that kind of thing but a Nexus ? P990 ? GT19100? I thought they were much harder to hack. Not only can you NOT track your phone but also lose all other alternatives because the phone is now linked to another google account. I was searching for a post that would walk me through a process of changing the google account currently associated with the phone. In an attempt to understand if this indeed was the case. I wanted to try this app so badly but now I blew it off, my only chance.
Hardware based identification is the only way to go about fixing this issue. Any low level process that runs off some hard coded tag independent of software control known only to the owner of the phone. I just don't know what other options are left with person who lost it. I think there is no other way.
Time for a new phone, I guess
Edit: I guess I was right about that. They had done a hard reset but the IMEI associated with my account is intact. So there are two ways of messing it up. One, you change the IMEI(which sounds ridiculously dumb). Second, you change the primary account(more believable). How stupid of me to think of the first one
i think if a android phone is lost and a guy with a bit knowledge of flashin roms gets it then we might have to forget our phone.. if the phone has screen lock the guy can reset the phone through stock recovery and all security apps like where's my droid,avast etc get wiped off.. i personally don't install any anti-theft apps. i beleive in being EXTRA CAREFUL than installing any anti theft apps
And you are damn right bro, its good to be careful than putting all your believe in one anti-THEFT software which can easily get wiped off.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
That's useful, thanks !
How did you get the Logs.
Hi Maverik,
My phone was robbed yesterday & the SIM card was removed,
I wanted to know how were you able to get the call logs, pics etc of your lost phone to ........
Very useful! Thanks!
we have Find My Phone
you can have a try
Find My Phone - find your misplaced phone/stolen phone/lost phone easily
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phonefindandlock
Thanks for share your experience with AndroidLost.
Inviato dal mio K00E utilizzando Tapatalk
AndroFind is the best
i highly recommend AndroFind to find stolen phone.
you can find it in android market :good:
Hi, but It's possible to find any kind of phone also with older Android version?
Thanks!
Hi
To what extent can employers control an android company phone? I'm sure they could just disable the SIM, but will they be able to:
access the device storage (whether internal or external)?
access call logs etc. and contacts? I guess they'd be able to view texts via the phone company?
disable the phone remotely so that it doesn't turn on?
Thanks for any advice
BLu8i said:
Hi
To what extent can employers control an android company phone? I'm sure they could just disable the SIM, but will they be able to:
access the device storage (whether internal or external)?
access call logs etc. and contacts? I guess they'd be able to view texts via the phone company?
disable the phone remotely so that it doesn't turn on?
Thanks for any advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the MDM the IT department is using. I use Google Admin Console. I can remotely wipe and lock my company-owned Android devices. GAC has started playing nicely with Apple devices, so I can do the same to iOS device we own, too. Seeing files, though? Yeah, if they're using some beefy MDM and it has full device permissions, anything goes if it's set up that way. But then again, if it's a company-owned device, there's no expectation of privacy, and all data on the device is the company's.
BLu8i said:
Hi
To what extent can employers control an android company phone? I'm sure they could just disable the SIM, but will they be able to:
access the device storage (whether internal or external)?
access call logs etc. and contacts? I guess they'd be able to view texts via the phone company?
disable the phone remotely so that it doesn't turn on?
Thanks for any advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best bet, just don't use it for anything that you want to keep to yourself.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Thanks guys.
I'm not sure if it's related, but my old company phone has recently decided not to turn on. I thought it might be something that was controlled by previous employer. Data hasn't been switched on, so can they actually disable the phone via the sim?
As I said, the phone did not want to switch on, so I decided to charge it for some time. Sometimes, it would power on the splash screen, but just does not go any further. It doesn't boot but just sits on the splash screen for over an hour. I was thinking of buying a replacement battery, but it seems it might not have any effect?
Perhaps it's something to do with the phone's IC on its way out?
I used to work for a major phone carrier as a store manager. And if we wanted our work email on our personal devices we had to grant it admin rights on our device and agree to a long list of things that no one read. I however read it and it literally said if they ever thought my device was comprised they'd remote wipe it without even telling me.
I straight up did not have my work email on my device and I was always taking flack from supervisors that I didn't respond to their emails unless I was in my office. And I always told them why and finally one day I received an email saying that as of X date (like a week later) that no employee could have their work email on a personal device.
I laughed my ass off at everyone who complained about it and asked several bosses what happened... Apparently some really high up dude had his phone get wiped and he lost a ton of pictures of his kids that weren't in the cloud and he raged at IT about it and they changed email permissions
Sent from my OnePlus7Pro using XDA Labs
So far he has deleted all the bookmarks that I saved from this site. The phone RCS doesn't work anymore. They can listen to phone call and terminate them and spoof incoming calls. I sent one phone to Samsung to be reviewed. At the end of 3 week review they sent me a check for the phone and I bought another one from ATT and I still have this problem. So I would appreciate it if someone could give me some direction for this Flip 3. I like the phone. I am a engineer and designed a few devices using ESP32's. So I know how to flash. I just need to lock this phone down and I will deal with the computer problem later...
Infections across multiple platforms is almost unheard of... what did Samsung find?
It isn't an infection. They are exploiting both devices. I run Norton 360 on both systems. It only slowed them down. And they are 24/7 on me like ex NSA. They haven't stolen anything but they are malicious. Samsung never said. The only thing that said is to buy a different phone. ATT has a open fraud case open because they saw the Tag phone and I changed the phone number several times like some drug dealer with different sim cards.
I feel like I am in the movie Enemy of the State except I am Will Smith and Gene Hackman rolled up into one.
cjdee1 said:
It isn't an infection. They are exploiting both devices. I run Norton 360 on both systems. It only slowed them down. And they are 24/7 on me like ex NSA. They haven't stolen anything but they are malicious. Samsung never said. The only thing that said is to buy a different phone. ATT has a open fraud case open because they saw the Tag phone and I changed the phone number several times like some drug dealer with different sim cards.
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AT&T has an open fraud case on you... or "them"?
Did malicious things? Losing bookmarks is pretty common and usually has nothing to do with being hacked.
Change Google account and password.
Reset all other accounts the same way on a clean Android. Allow no one physical access to the device and most importantly be careful what you install and download.
Most users don't need a hacker to stalk them; they do it themselves by careless installs and downloads. I'll remind you that XDA is a site filled with hackers... mostly peaceful.
I'm sorry for your troubles, most days hacking isn't needed. Really to get into someone's account these days you need personal information which is freely givin on social media and whatnot. You should get with Google and do a massive security checkup. Change password turn on 2FA...the whole swizzle. If all else fails, create a new account completely separate from the affected account/device and start fresh
I opened the Fraud case. They provided the documentation. This has been going on since last year. There was a white paper that came out in November how the media player was being use to hack in. I deal with this problem every day. One would think they would give up. I have another 20 computers in my office that I am replacing once I get my end under control.
Hmm... maybe move all your info to a new account (make the account on a different IP address so like have a friend make it maybe) cuz from my understanding- the hacker finds you on even a new phone? delete the accounts that are being hacked and uh- idk what else really
delete the apps that are being infected
Purge everything from everywhere and start fresh. Honestly Norton and other programs for virus protection aren't really helpful anymore. I do not see a point in using them when Microsoft does a great job just on their own. It's possible that it could be the cause most of the time anti-virus programs that aren't part of the main OS are the problem
Also another note, anything with a Snapdragon and made for the US is locked down. Means no flashing no anything. Best bet for a device us find a good old phone that has a lot of support and flash anything on it
Dr.Lost said:
Also another note, anything with a Snapdragon and made for the US is locked down. Means no flashing no anything. Best bet for a device us find a good old phone that has a lot of support and flash anything on it
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If you go below Android 9 you will introduce a slew of high risk vulnerabilities including some the worst rootkits. If you're really concerned use the latest version of 12 with fully active scoped storage and the mess that it is...
In general don't use wifi on Androids.
Keep bluetooth off if not using.
Install only vetted apps. Scan with online Virustotal.
Keep all downloads in the download folder until vetted. Scripted malware jpegs, pngs are real and may evaded conventional detection. If they get into a database they will raise hell until deleted; open all jpegs in download folder before transferring them and check for changes in that folder
Keep all email in the cloud, avoid downloading any attachments unless absolutely necessary.
If malware is suspected, delete it or factory reset within 2 hours. Reset passwords.
Time stagger backups so they don't all get infected if there is an incident. Backup redundantly to 2 or more hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. Use only a known clean PC to access those backups... cross platform malware jumping is rare, cross drive jumping is not.
blackhawk said:
Infections across multiple platforms is almost unheard of... what did Samsung find?
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Unheard of? Absolutely not, rare on a cell phone, maybe? I don't know really but it is possible especially if OP pissed off the government
Good luck OP
When it comes time to switch to a new phone, ATT should be moving you to a new account with a fresh SIM. Don't transfer anything. Install anything you had fresh and set it up fresh. If they are giving you a new SIM or attaching the new phone to the same account and someone gained access to the account, they're still being fed every new number and IMEI.
As for pictures and stuff, get a USB-C compatible hard drive. Move it to that. Make sure your virus scanner on the computer is updated and either yank the LAN cable or turn off the router before connecting and scanning it. Once it's clean, connect the drive to the new phone and not the computer.
Sounds like someone cloned your ESN and SIM based on what they were doing. Synced items could be manipulated through a PC hack and one good run of the right software with your phone on the same network made it a phone issue.
Oh, and if they didn't or don't already do it, make sure ATT logs your previous devices "lost or stolen" to blacklist the IMEI. That should also make a clone useless for as long as it's a clone.
if you are suspecting a hack, then report to samsung members app > get help > error report asap for help from samsung's hacking issue team
luigi90210 said:
Unheard of? Absolutely not, rare on a cell phone, maybe? I don't know really but it is possible especially if OP pissed off the government
Good luck OP
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If you download malware files a PC is suspectable to, yes, but generally an infection on an Android doesn't cross platform infect a PC.
It's important to nip any malware in the bud and to isolate that device immediately to limit damage. Any device with malware that I can't erraticate completely within 1 to 2 hours gets nuked, data and all, factory reset. Data is restored then via offline backups.
My PC never has internet access and that's one less huge vector for infection. Even then my backup data drives are isolated from the PC unless in use... multilayered security.
If the DOD, AEC, FBI etc are interested in you, you'll never know it unless they want you to know. When on stake out they always operate as teams. One team is high exposure to gain maximum information and maybe detected but a second picket fence approach team is already in place if the primary team is exposed. Of course they share all knowledge gleaned. The second team you will likely never detect.
Fun fact; field FBI Agents blend in, can be wearing blue jeans, orange vest, 3 piece, anything but low key and drive midrange priced cars that are slightly dirty. The way you ID them is by their behavior and at times location.
If you're not on their menu they may even have a benign friendly conversation with you. They are interesting to chat with.
There is an app on the phone com.qualcomm.atfwd Is that a valid program for this phone. I got my old CDMA phone up on t mobile I had the data turned off because it was useless to me. I came back home and I saw the 2 forks moving. The data was turned on and Norton firewall blocked entry and I had the wifi in airplane mode on the computer. Now I have skills, the average person would never know. This is why I need a phone that I can lock down.
I believe it started with the phone and then I used samsung pc software which hacked the computers that I used. I have all the 25 zip files from one phone before it got a change to load. Anybody interested in them?
The phones have 422 files installed.
cjdee1 said:
There is an app on the phone com.qualcomm.atfwd Is that a valid program for this phone. I got my old CDMA phone up on t mobile I had the data turned off because it was useless to me. I came back home and I saw the 2 forks moving. The data was turned on and Norton firewall blocked entry and I had the wifi in airplane mode on the computer. Now I have skills, the average person would never know. This is why I need a phone that I can lock down.
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WiFi Screen mirroring.
cjdee1 said:
There is an app on the phone com.qualcomm.atfwd Is that a valid program for this phone. I got my old CDMA phone up on t mobile I had the data turned off because it was useless to me. I came back home and I saw the 2 forks moving. The data was turned on and Norton firewall blocked entry and I had the wifi in airplane mode on the computer. Now I have skills, the average person would never know. This is why I need a phone that I can lock down.
I believe it started with the phone and then I used samsung pc software which hacked the computers that I used. I have all the 25 zip files from one phone before it got a change to load. Anybody interested in them?
The phones have 422 files installed.
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Click to collapse
Interested in potentiality infected files?
Wanna do malware jpeg swap?
Seriously... scan them with online Virustotal.
I guess that could start over as a last resort. The funny thing is I don't do anything illegal. Who ever it is will be wasting time and costing me time. I am sure they are getting screenshots but I don't think that they do it live. On the PC I have zero'd out the drive but the bios is another way. It started when I backup the phone using different computers on my network.
cjdee1 said:
I guess that could start over as a last resort. The funny thing is I don't do anything illegal. Who ever it is will be wasting time and costing me time. I am sure they are getting screenshots but I don't think that they do it live. On the PC I have zero'd out the drive but the bios is another way. It started when I backup the phone using different computers on my network.
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Is the router updated and secured? Lock it down even if you need help to set it up.
On the PC you should try to ID what the malware is and make sure the databases are clean of it before reloading. Protect all backup drives until the PC is known clean.
The bios can easily be reflashed.