While I'm waiting for my GS2 (my first Android device) to be shipped I have been doing a little research into the apps and general security and was shocked to find that many apps actually leak private information and data back to ad servers. This scares me a little. I don't want my location, and other personal data being sent to places I haven't authorised.
Is there any way of being able to stop or block this or any way of identifying which apps do this? How can one know if a publisher of an app can be trusted?
I try to keep my PC locked down from this sort of thing and want to do so with my phone. I just want to be able to make an informed decision with Android.
There is a app called Permissions Denied that can do that.
When you download an app from the market, it tells you what permissions theapp has to have. Most of th time, the permissions aren't for what you think. Internet connection is usually cause it has ads. Also, see what the apps are rated, and read the comments to see if the app is trustworthy.
[sig]I'm close to root, im patiently waiting on those puzzles[sig]
First thing I downloaded when I bought my EVO was Lookout mobile. Very good AntiVirus app with free features that Sprint is trying to sell with their own junk. Try it out.
Thanks for the comments guys. The thing is how do you really know that the app is not maliciously harvesting your data?
Take the Lookout Mobile app triagetoday mentioned above. Now, I'm only using this app as an example and am not saying that there is anything wrong with the app as I've not used it. But it makes a good example.
The app wants permissions for everything. Most user comments are positive, there are a few that say that they cannot uninstall it which is worrying but generally the comments are favourable. But how can I be sure that this app wasn't written to harvest data on the pretence that it's protecting your phone? In fact there is even one comment suggesting just that. I can't see anywhere where I can look at the source code so is it a case of blind faith and hope the publisher is not malicious?
After reading many reports about huge increase in malware on Android and data leakage it's a real concern on how to protect your data.
Got my son a Note 5 for Christmas yesterday, I know on mine i run Lookout as the native antivirus and every couple of weeks I scan it with Malwarebytes and have not had a problem. When I was at the ATT store activating it for him the salesman told me NOT to install lookout and malwarebytes as they will harm the phone (Samsungs come with lookout already preloaded) he told me to use Avast (I have used that for PCs and know its a good product) and that has a malware scanner and antivirus all in one. What are peoples opinions or suggestions?
no need for malware and antivirus for android
no root no problem apps require root permission to do what the virus does
AlMaghraby said:
no need for malware and antivirus for android
no root no problem apps require root permission to do what the virus does
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Click to collapse
im not so much worried about the apps themselves causing issues, Im more concerned about when he uses the internet itself. you see he has Autism and dosent understand that people can put harmful stuff inside the links. He is 15 and he wanted a phone, movies, you tube etc.... but I know e will get curious (like all kids) and surf the net. His friends in school have phones so I thought he was old enough to have one too. Im just worried about him opening up an email or link and seeing something or his phone getting infected
https://disconnect.me/ ,if you must have ...
even if he surfs the internet those malware and viruses you talk about are made for windows not android so I see that there is no way to infect your phone without being rooted.
those links won't affect the phone.
and I suggest that you untick unknow resources install from setting and you will be just fine .
Has anybody deleted some of the bloatware apps, more specifically the stock File Manager?
com.jrdcom.filemanager
/data/app/com.jrdcom.filemanager-2/base.apk
Wondering if anybody tried and had any ramifications from it.
This thing just all of a sudden activated itself and runs in memory, and there is no Disable for it. I could install an app to freeze it, but that defeats the purpose.
Moscow Desire said:
Has anybody deleted some of the bloatware apps, more specifically the stock File Manager?
com.jrdcom.filemanager
/data/app/com.jrdcom.filemanager-2/base.apk
Wondering if anybody tried and had any ramifications from it.
This thing just all of a sudden activated itself and runs in memory, and there is no Disable for it. I could install an app to freeze it, but that defeats the purpose.
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Im runnin lineage on mine and doesnt even have it on there.
I would freeze it. Make sure your downloads and such still work ok.
Give it a few days if good then remove.
TheMadScientist said:
Im runnin lineage on mine and doesnt even have it on there.
I would freeze it. Make sure your downloads and such still work ok.
Give it a few days if good then remove.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, I deleted the culprit. No issues so far.
LOL...after 3 or 4 days the lovely File Manager App magically installed itself. Looks like a more indepth investigation is forthcoming.
Obviously there is another app that re-installs it.
Stinkin thing.
I switched over to the xperia rom on idol 3 And it got rid of a load of crap, Bunch of xposed is working.
I just dont care for the stock rom on this thing at all, Even debloated it runs like crap,
Ive had this device now over a week and cant find any sort of setup I like, I am used to lgs UI.
Even tried t get touchwiz ui and grace to run but nogo.
Did you remove the system update apps too by chance?
TheMadScientist said:
Stinkin thing.
I switched over to the xperia rom on idol 3 And it got rid of a load of crap, Bunch of xposed is working.
I just dont care for the stock rom on this thing at all, Even debloated it runs like crap,
Ive had this device now over a week and cant find any sort of setup I like, I am used to lgs UI.
Even tried t get touchwiz ui and grace to run but nogo.
Did you remove the system update apps too by chance?
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Click to collapse
Haven't really had a chance to look deep into it yet. I've disabled auto updates, so pretty sure it's not getting it from the netz.
Funny thing, I tried running a 100mb system update and i failed to completely install. Havent thot about it much since then, But I suspect it was in that update somewhere, as I had never seen nor had an issue with it before.
Will strip down that update and see when I get a chance.
It comes pre installed as 'files' app, auto updates to "file manager" to then run this 'boost' branded adware. I call it adware because it does not adhere to the android force stop, disable peeking or any other android OS settings and automatically regenerates itself despite the OS not allowing auto updates.
Android should never allow provider apps to have a higher privelage that renders the OS setting useless, bundled apps should also not disable the uninstall and disable functionality of the OS.
I have spent weeks in settings to find out it is allowed to act like a virus and do what ever it wants being rewarded with ad revenue.
Thanks Google for allowing me to purchase hardware pre loaded with junk ads by default with no way of opting out, it's not only a privacy and security concern, it's a consumer complaint.
adware/spyware
Not happy said:
It comes pre installed as 'files' app, auto updates to "file manager" to then run this 'boost' branded adware. I call it adware because it does not adhere to the android force stop, disable peeking or any other android OS settings and automatically regenerates itself despite the OS not allowing auto updates.
Android should never allow provider apps to have a higher privelage that renders the OS setting useless, bundled apps should also not disable the uninstall and disable functionality of the OS.
I have spent weeks in settings to find out it is allowed to act like a virus and do what ever it wants being rewarded with ad revenue.
Thanks Google for allowing me to purchase hardware pre loaded with junk ads by default with no way of opting out, it's not only a privacy and security concern, it's a consumer complaint.
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Click to collapse
Yes , this lovely new addition to the file manager is actually the "Hawk Super Cleaner/ antivirus" seen here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apps.go.clean.boost.master&hl=en
You can see my complaint(s) here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/help/joy-launcher-joy-t3628670
I just installed TWRP and SuperSU on the stock Marshmallow following this guide:https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/general/twrp-custom-recovery-idol3-6045-t3162608 and will be removing this cancer for good!
Cheers, I might have a look at rooting (pain seeing I bought 4 of these for myself and fam). I have reported the appin the playstore for being installed with root permissions bypassing the expected android user settings and will be following up with a complaint to the consumer watchdog.
I never bought hardware with the knowledge an innocent bloatware provider app would turn rouge with root permissions for ad revenue.
My phone will most likely be thrown at the wall so "File Manager" doesn't get another 1000 or so false positive downloads in the playstore from me.
Had 3 myself
Not happy said:
Cheers, I might have a look at rooting (pain seeing I bought 4 of these for myself and fam). I have reported the appin the playstore for being installed with root permissions bypassing the expected android user settings and will be following up with a complaint to the consumer watchdog.
I never bought hardware with the knowledge an innocent bloatware provider app would turn rouge with root permissions for ad revenue.
My phone will most likely be thrown at the wall so "File Manager" doesn't get another 1000 or so false positive downloads in the playstore from me.
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Click to collapse
I hear ya, I bought 3 of these.
I am very careful what I install on my device and read the manifest files on EVERYTHING so you can imagine how angry I was when my own phone manufacturer pushed unwanted adware/possible-probable spyware on to my device with no warnings or asking my permission.
Another odd thing is that after I uninstalled the Facebook app I had 2 apps appear (or were left over?) com.facebook.appmanager.apk and com.facebook.system.apk that were using up data and could not be removed until tonight after rooting.
Interesting article here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/tmobile-lg-v10/help/suspicious-apps-apps-section-facebook-t3415876
I have been studying computer and mobile security as a hobby for some time and have found that these "antivirus" and 'cleaner" apps on Android are the worst offenders of privacy of them all.
Scanning all your files, installed apps, contacts etc etc and sending all that data back to God knows where!
I have found that almost every single app that I have downloaded from the Play Store has some form of data mining and/or analytics.
Unfortunately, it's a catch 22 in Android..rooting your device breaks what little security is built into the system but it's the only way to remove pre-installed crapware.
---------- Post added at 06:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:53 AM ----------
Also, good luck trying to get anything done with Google or Alcatel.
I battled with Google for almost 8 months straight trying to stop an unscrupulous advertiser that was using FAKE virus warnings to trick users into installing an "antivirus" app on the Play store and just got sent around in circles.
Google is complicit!
I was finally successful in stopping the fraudulent activity after I contacted the Federal Trade Commission.
http://smisecurity.altervista.org/DFNDR.html
Data mining is a given these days which is why I have Pi-hole for my home dns and ubuntu for my home box, gotta do what you can. As for this phone I wouldn't do much on it unless I re flash it which is why I am angry with it.
As for Android taking the normal software stance of do nothing unless legally required, this time is interesting to me because they are effectively allowing the bypassing of the playstore agree feature to Install an app, being side loaded from Alcatel like this one would think breaks the playstore terms so knowledge should be enough for action in this case from the android or playstore devs. Doubt it but.
Also apon sale did not mention android as being adapted software that over rides expected android and playstore behaviour but did advertise android and use their logo so most likely a trademark vialation also.
The problem is Alcatel are adapting android and side loading apps to bypass security and privacy user settings to double dip on the customer for income despite the final result, android and the playstore can bury their heads in the sand all they want but they have been made aware of the risks.
Went over it again for peace of mind (sorry) but I wish you the best in your education as we need more people shinning the light on privacy simply because we are in the rise of the machines, not long before people worldwide ask what happened to all the jobs and when did the need for conventional ID actually dissapear.
Not happy said:
The problem is Alcatel are adapting android and side loading apps to bypass security and privacy user settings to double dip on the customer for income despite the final result, android and the playstore can bury their heads in the sand all they want but they have been made aware of the risks.
.
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Click to collapse
Very well said!
The supervisor I spoke to at Alcatel tried to say that I/we agreed to the terms by using their devices which allowed them to push this on to our phones but I disagreed with him.
At one point I even thought of ditching my phone and getting an iPhone or an Android device that is compatible with the Replicant OS https://www.replicant.us/
I have a few Raspberry PI's laying around but never used one as an access point. (I'm assuming that's what your doing?)
I just sent a very nasty email to the developer "[email protected]" and referenced this thread.
Keep us updated if you get anywhere and I will be fighting this from my end and posting any updates as well.
Will do, I don't plan on not continuing with this one because my hardware and android do not operate as advertised.
The day I can rely on Linux for a phone OS is the day android gets ditched but will definatly check out your link also.
Pi-hole is basically a collection of hosts files that block ads and known bad domains on the DNS level, point the home router to it and bam the whole household gets an adblocker by default. Runs smooth but added a few commands to auto upgrade the lists with a Cron job.
Not happy said:
Pi-hole is basically a collection of hosts files that block ads and known bad domains on the DNS level, point the home router to it and bam the whole household gets an adblocker by default. Runs smooth but added a few commands to auto upgrade the lists with a Cron job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very cool!
I'll have to check that out.
I altered the hosts file on both my laptop and my other rooted phone to block ads and apps I used to have.
This is a small sample of IP's I blocked in the hosts file after running NETSTAT scans, there are a TON more that I added from MVP hosts (it is against MVP's EULA to post their blocked IP's)
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 search.vip.gq1.yahoo.com
127.0.0.1 a96-6-122-162.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com
127.0.0.1 a-0001.a-msedge.net
127.0.0.1 yahoo.com
127.0.0.1 rtr3.l7.search.vip.gq1.yahoo.com
127.0.0.1 c.amazon-adsystem.com
127.0.0.1 yandex.st
127.0.0.1 mc.yandex.ru
127.0.0.1 c1.popads.net
127.0.0.1 c1.popads.net/pop.js
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com/analytics.js
::1 localhost #[IPv6]
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Wow! that PI-hole block list on Git Hub is a LOT larger than the one I was using!
Him guys and thanks again for the thread. Anyone found a solution? This app is wasting 20 percent of my battery, which does not last me a whole day anymore, it's outrageous. I also sent a report to Google and the app developers.
Cheers
Guys, I found someone with a solution, just see this post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=73642381&postcount=4
Cheers
That is not much of a solution unfortunately. The REAL solution is to install TWRP recovery on the adware/spyware infested Alcatel phone and flash to a different operating system. There is an (unofficial) ROM of Lineage 14 Nougat that is pretty decent that can be found on the XDA site.
sloshnmosh said:
That is not much of a solution unfortunately. The REAL solution is to install TWRP recovery on the adware/spyware infested Alcatel phone and flash to a different operating system. There is an (unofficial) ROM of Lineage 14 Nougat that is pretty decent that can be found on the XDA site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It solved my problems
It's easy to solve the problem. Just go to applications. Select file manager uninstall upgrades, it will revert it back to factory version, no more spam !
I was getting really annoyed by the app that stealthily installed itself and called itself File Manager for my Alcatel POP 4. It constantly wanted to clean, boost, virus-protect, be a flashlight and camera app with it’s own toolbar and playing an ad whenever you asked any of those actions to be performed. The beauty of it was that it could not be disabled or uninstalled. I was desperately looking for a way to get rid of it without drastic measures, like a full factory reset or rooting my device. I found a suggestion on the net to install AppMgrIII from the Play Store. I did it as I was determined to try anything at that point. It offered me to replace the app with a “factory version”. I accepted that and sure enough, a normal-looking File Manager with no ads or toolbars appeared, all the rockets, boosts, virus-protection, cleaning brushes gone! I hope it won’t reinstall itself magically. In a perfect world I would prefer to have no file manager on my machine at all and a choice of installing one that I prefer but at least the nightmare of this intrusive monster seems to be over. I hope it stays that way.
Update: reverting back to factory version stopped the spam but it all came back with the next update. Now I reverted it back again and stopped automatic updates on Google Play for all apps. I will pick apps to be updated manually.
(Note: I originally posted this in the Verizon section, but there doesn't seem to be much traffic there and I'm not sure it's a Verizon specific issue.)
My Galaxy S8+ is giving my spammy pop up / redirect ads in Chrome. The kinds of ads that look like the site I went to is infected with some kind of virus, but it happens for a lot of different sites so I'm thinking it's my phone. It doesn't happen every time. I've attached a screenshot of one, although they aren't all exactly like that. Some claim my device is infected, etc.
I don't install apps from third party sites aside from Amazon. Most of my apps are productivity type apps from pretty reputable vendors. I have a few games (not a big gamer) but they all have good reviews on Google play. I've run the built in Verizon security app with no results and I downloaded and ran AVG which found nothing either.
How do I diagnose this?
Stop visiting those porn sites... install samsung's internet browser and adblock plugin.
I've looked at a lot of anti-spyware apps, but I can't find one that specifically says it can find stealth apps that someone installed when they got ahold of your phone. So it would look like an app that I personally wanted to have. They mostly talk about apps that were installed by a virus or link, etc.
It would be nice to be able to disable camera/mic functions too, or at least be notified when they are being accessed.
I don't mind paying to purchase the app, but most require a double digit monthly subscription, and I make next to nothing because I'm disabled so chances are even if I subscribed the money wouldn't be there to continue the subscription.
I've lurked here for many years without signing up, I love you guys! There are so many tutorials and apps that would never have known about if not for you guys. The developers here are geniuses. So thank you immensely in advance for your help!
Maybe try play store free app Bitdefender which has 5 million dl's & 4.7 rating. I have not tried it....
"Bitdefender Antivirus is one of the few actually free antivirus apps. It hasn’t changed much over the years. It offers a basic scanning feature, a simple interface, quick performance, and no configuration. This is a great one for super basic needs. All it really does is scan stuff ..." androidauthority
galaxys said:
Maybe try play store free app Bitdefender which has 5 million dl's & 4.7 rating. I have not tried it....
"Bitdefender Antivirus is one of the few actually free antivirus apps. It hasn’t changed much over the years. It offers a basic scanning feature, a simple interface, quick performance, and no configuration. This is a great one for super basic needs. All it really does is scan stuff ..." androidauthority
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. Do anti-virus apps detect spyware though?
They can, just read some of the app playstore reviews and it's Developer app description for details....
Try ‘Malwarebytes for Android’.
If you really think there's spyware do a hard reset.
If you still aren't satisfied go full nuke and have the firmware reflashed.
No virus detection has a 100% detection rate and the worst trojans only a reflash can eradicate them.
A better question is why do you think there's spyware on the phone?
In over 6 years of using outdated OS's I've never had to do a reload because of malware.
Once found a nasty trojan preloader before it could be triggered with Malwarebytes.
I had a infected jpeg that damaged files in the download folder. Deleting the jpeg and some of the files ended it's brief rain of terror.
Be careful what apps you load, what you download*, what you click and never let others have unsupervised access to your device. React quickly to abnormal behavior to find it's cause.
Delete any file you suspect of being malware including jpegs and pngs.
Be prepare to do a hard reset at any time if you believe the device has been infected.
Always keep at least 2 complete isolated data backups for the device. Stagger syncs to them so a virus can't get embedded on both of them... hopefully.
Lol, paranoid yet?
*use only cloud based email apps like gmail
Google apps are spyware, Facebook is spyware, Whatsapp is spyware, Instagram is spyware. In principle all Social Media apps are spyware.
All apps what are designed to track your Internet browsing habits, such as frequented sites and favorite downloads, and then provide advertising companies with marketing data are spyware. All apps what can access your contacts data are spyware ...
Android, the spyware party mix...
You can try Bitdefender Free or Malwarebytes Premium. I have not used the second one before but have read a review at https://antivirusdoctor.net/ and think about using it on my smartphone.