Question for you android users

[MrRiplEy[H]]

isnt it in the best interest of companies that make security products to exaggerate how bad the situation is, in order to make you buy their product? 


semp

That is also true. But as far as mobile phones go, risks are pretty high. One rootkit that silently calls Congo at 1000 bucks an hour from your phone can rack up a personal bankrupcy in no time. And the phone companies _will_ sue to get their money.

[Shuffler]

That is also true. But as far as mobile phones go, risks are pretty high. One rootkit that silently calls Congo at 1000 bucks an hour from your phone can rack up a personal bankrupcy in no time. And the phone companies _will_ sue to get their money.

I think you skipped a few posts in this thread.

[Vulcan]

You can't download anything to iOS unless it's checked and verified by Apple,

LOL rubbish.

Essential Android apps for me:
Flipboard
Google Currents
Touchdown (essentially Outlook for Android)
Plex (I have a Plex Media Server)
Google +
Mortplayer Audio Book Player
MX Player
ES File Explorer
Great Little War Game

Make sure you learn how to use the desktop widgets and shortcuts properly, and Google Now. We also use Latitude quite a bit.

[Ripsnort]

If  you travel often:

Tripit (Trip planning)
FlightView (Neat app to watch flights come and go, check status of your flight)
WikiTude
Evernote (to many neat things to discuss here)
Yelp
Open Table
Play Movies

My other "Must Haves" on my Asus Transformer Prime are for photography:
PicsPlay
Photoshop Express
Movie Studio
Vimeo mobile
Picasa Web Albums mobile

Other junk:
Kindle
Polaris Office
Pdnet Tablet
Foxfi

I also connect to my Verizon unlimited data plan (grandfathered) via bluetooth using Pdnet Tablet for the tablet and FoxFi for the phone. Neither need rooting, you just download Foxfi and follow the instructions, Viola! You can access the net from anywhere you have a good signal on your cellphone without having to have a 2nd data plan.  

[MrRiplEy[H]]

LOL rubbish.

Essential Android apps for me:
Flipboard
Google Currents
Touchdown (essentially Outlook for Android)
Plex (I have a Plex Media Server)
Google +
Mortplayer Audio Book Player
MX Player
ES File Explorer
Great Little War Game

Make sure you learn how to use the desktop widgets and shortcuts properly, and Google Now. We also use Latitude quite a bit.

It's not rubbish. Now I'm sure you can explain how exactly it is rubbish mr blind belief in antiviruses

[guncrasher]

It's not rubbish. Now I'm sure you can explain how exactly it is rubbish mr blind belief in antiviruses

so the iphones cant get malware?  you act like the iphone is virus/malware proof.  I have the rezound and it is rooted with custom rom.  only reason to root it was to get rid of the stupid apps like facebook that i dont use.  also to be able to tether.

the iphone/android thing is the same as the saitek/ch joystick arguments.  which one is better?  it depends on what you do with it.

I value your opinion but you are wrong in a statement that I will get malware just because I have an android phone.  I do all my banking on it and not afraid to do it.  I think it is superior to the iphone as I had one before.  but that is just my opinion, you have yours and that is that  .


semp

[ACE]

Ripley's an Apple fan boi!

[MrRiplEy[H]]

so the iphones cant get malware?  you act like the iphone is virus/malware proof.  I have the rezound and it is rooted with custom rom.  only reason to root it was to get rid of the stupid apps like facebook that i dont use.  also to be able to tether.

the iphone/android thing is the same as the saitek/ch joystick arguments.  which one is better?  it depends on what you do with it.

I value your opinion but you are wrong in a statement that I will get malware just because I have an android phone.  I do all my banking on it and not afraid to do it.  I think it is superior to the iphone as I had one before.  but that is just my opinion, you have yours and that is that  .


semp

You don't seem to grasp that Apple holds much tighter standards with what it accepts for distribution on the app store. Apple restricts the way apps can update themselves, too. Android play works completely differently. Anyone with 5 bucks and an e-mail account can publish any crap on Play and people will be able to download it untill Googles malware detection catches it (if it does). A typical malware gets downloaded in the order of thousads before it's removed from the play store. Apps also have a full freedom to download updates from unverified sources e.g. a legitimate looking app can just update a malicious payload at any given time and the play store won't even see it. If you do banking on an android phone you're a true darwin awards candidate as far as information technology goes! 

There's a fundamental difference in the method of operation there. Android is built on the principle of freedom - unfortunately it means freedom to exploit your mobile phone connection. It's exactly like issuing a carte blanche to criminals. Here, have my billing information - feel free to send me any charges (of any size) from automatically generated calls to malicious payphone numbers. 1000 dollars a minute? No problem. Let em rip!

[guncrasher]

You don't seem to grasp that Apple holds much tighter standards with what it accepts for distribution on the app store. Apple restricts the way apps can update themselves, too. Android play works completely differently. Anyone with 5 bucks and an e-mail account can publish any crap on Play and people will be able to download it untill Googles malware detection catches it (if it does). A typical malware gets downloaded in the order of thousads before it's removed from the play store. Apps also have a full freedom to download updates from unverified sources e.g. a legitimate looking app can just update a malicious payload at any given time and the play store won't even see it. If you do banking on an android phone you're a true darwin awards candidate as far as information technology goes! 

There's a fundamental difference in the method of operation there. Android is built on the principle of freedom - unfortunately it means freedom to exploit your mobile phone connection. It's exactly like issuing a carte blanche to criminals. Here, have my billing information - feel free to send me any charges (of any size) from automatically generated calls to malicious payphone numbers. 1000 dollars a minute? No problem. Let em rip!

in that case then won't Linux have the same problem?  Open source. drivers created by others.  what is to stop somebody from doing the same thing?



semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

in that case then won't Linux have the same problem?  Open source. drivers created by others.  what is to stop somebody from doing the same thing?



semp

No, linux sources are monitored and verified by the developers and they go through multiple review processes before they're accepted in the official repositories. It's fundamentally different from play store where anyone can upload their code for distribution. If linux goes mainstream some day and non-community content gets widely available through, say, Ubuntu store for example the same scenario is possible also there. For now linux devs are very security oriented though. The main difference with a cell phone and a linux desktop is of course the fact that a cell phone can be made to create thousands of dollars of charges the very second of infection happens as long as a sim card is activated and phone online - where on desktop more sophisticated url hijacking / man in the middle / keylogger exploit would be required. Since linux users tend to be much more tech savvy that kind of attack would be soon detected most likely - and most users would of course not even install code from an unverified source in the first place.

Android play store would be safe too if nobody downloaded 99% of the apps. Android will never be safe though since it's vulnerable to drive-by attacks in the form of reverse-tcp for example. This means that if you surf the web using your Android, any safe appearing website that has advertisements running can upload a payload to your phone. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/a-first-hacked-sites-with-android-drive-by-download-malware/11810

This kind of attacks with previously found privilege check bypass exploits mean that it's possible to get your phone rooted simply by visiting news.com that has ads playing.

In the case of Android the base linux is not the security problem. It's the phone operators backdoors they put in there windows style that enable the OS to be rooted remotely.

[guncrasher]

No, linux sources are monitored and verified by the developers and they go through multiple review processes before they're accepted in the official repositories. It's fundamentally different from play store where anyone can upload their code for distribution. If linux goes mainstream some day and non-community content gets widely available through, say, Ubuntu store for example the same scenario is possible also there. For now linux devs are very security oriented though. The main difference with a cell phone and a linux desktop is of course the fact that a cell phone can be made to create thousands of dollars of charges the very second of infection happens as long as a sim card is activated and phone online - where on desktop more sophisticated url hijacking / man in the middle / keylogger exploit would be required. Since linux users tend to be much more tech savvy that kind of attack would be soon detected most likely - and most users would of course not even install code from an unverified source in the first place.

Android play store would be safe too if nobody downloaded 99% of the apps. Android will never be safe though since it's vulnerable to drive-by attacks in the form of reverse-tcp for example. This means that if you surf the web using your Android, any safe appearing website that has advertisements running can upload a payload to your phone. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/a-first-hacked-sites-with-android-drive-by-download-malware/11810

This kind of attacks with previously found privilege check bypass exploits mean that it's possible to get your phone rooted simply by visiting news.com that has ads playing.

In the case of Android the base linux is not the security problem. It's the phone operators backdoors they put in there windows style that enable the OS to be rooted remotely.

\\


but the reason android has been targeted lately is only due to the fact that there are more people using android phones, so they become more attractive to hackers.  on the other hand the same thing is happening to linux where as more people are beginning to use it then it will become more attractive to hackers.  which is what has happened to apple.  apple has already acknowledged that their system can get virus/malware.  linux has already gotten some and it will increase if it becomes more mainstream.

which comes back to the original question.  the only person that can keep your information secure is yourself.  I have yet to get a virus on my android phone..  nor have I heard of anybody that got malware that made thousands of calls costing hundred of dollars.  and I know a lot of people that have android phones.  my department has about 30 people about 20 have android phones with about 15 rooted, 2 or 3 guys still have iphones and rest have just a regular cellphones.  none of us has ever gotten a virus/malware.

 in our company with about 900 employes just based on what I have seen I would say most use android phones over iphones.  and to be honest most have switched from iphones to android.  but regardless we still have about 1/3 using just regular phones with just basic functions like text.  of those that have android phones the only time I have ever heard anybody getting malware was from my brother.  he downloaded some app a couple of years ago.  it did make some calls but he was promptly refunded by verizon for all the unauthorized messages/calls cant remember which one.

semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

\\


but the reason android has been targeted lately is only due to the fact that there are more people using android phones, so they become more attractive to hackers.  on the other hand the same thing is happening to linux where as more people are beginning to use it then it will become more attractive to hackers.  which is what has happened to apple.  apple has already acknowledged that their system can get virus/malware.  linux has already gotten some and it will increase if it becomes more mainstream.

which comes back to the original question.  the only person that can keep your information secure is yourself.  I have yet to get a virus on my android phone..  nor have I heard of anybody that got malware that made thousands of calls costing hundred of dollars.  and I know a lot of people that have android phones.  my department has about 30 people about 20 have android phones with about 15 rooted, 2 or 3 guys still have iphones and rest have just a regular cellphones.  none of us has ever gotten a virus/malware.

 in our company with about 900 employes just based on what I have seen I would say most use android phones over iphones.  and to be honest most have switched from iphones to android.  but regardless we still have about 1/3 using just regular phones with just basic functions like text.  of those that have android phones the only time I have ever heard anybody getting malware was from my brother.  he downloaded some app a couple of years ago.  it did make some calls but he was promptly refunded by verizon for all the unauthorized messages/calls cant remember which one.

semp

So are you saying car crashes never happen since none of your acquaintances had one recently? The fact remains that Android as a platform is the riskyest platform currently to be on. The whole business model leaves it open for exploits and it's only a matter of time before you also start running into them. Android is only popular because it really has no reasonably priced competition in the mobile market - that and general consumers do not know enough to care about security.

On a prepaid connection Android is just fine as long as you don't do any banking on it. Banking on an android phone is nearly as foolhardy as is on a used windows computer

You can't compare linux to android directly because content distribution method is totally different there AND linux lacks operator backdoors which are rampant in Android devices. Backdoors enable privilege escalations without user verification and that makes Android as poor in security as any old windows.

Just two weeks ago my son got a nasty malware on his computer despite having up to date Microsoft Security Essentials running on it. All that was needed was his friend sending a download link to minecraft. Click-click kaboom.

Now his ears are still red from the lecture and I took away his right to install stuff. Luckily I had just imaged the computer fresh after installing the OCZ Revodrive III so recovery was relatively painless.

[Serenity]

Nice to see the BBS still take the same old detours...

[guncrasher]

So are you saying car crashes never happen since none of your acquaintances had one recently? The fact remains that Android as a platform is the riskyest platform currently to be on. The whole business model leaves it open for exploits and it's only a matter of time before you also start running into them. Android is only popular because it really has no reasonably priced competition in the mobile market - that and general consumers do not know enough to care about security.

On a prepaid connection Android is just fine as long as you don't do any banking on it. Banking on an android phone is nearly as foolhardy as is on a used windows computer

You can't compare linux to android directly because content distribution method is totally different there AND linux lacks operator backdoors which are rampant in Android devices. Backdoors enable privilege escalations without user verification and that makes Android as poor in security as any old windows.

Just two weeks ago my son got a nasty malware on his computer despite having up to date Microsoft Security Essentials running on it. All that was needed was his friend sending a download link to minecraft. Click-click kaboom.

Now his ears are still red from the lecture and I took away his right to install stuff. Luckily I had just imaged the computer fresh after installing the OCZ Revodrive III so recovery was relatively painless.

boss, apple and linux can have malware just as easy as windows.  the only reason they have less is because they arent as big players as windows.  once they increase their presences they will also be targeted.

and the reason apple has a tighter control on their app market is only due to control.  they love to control what people do and has nothing to do with what is better or safer for the consumer.

semp



semp

[Butcher]

I've never had malware or viruses and I've been using android products forever now.

Android is no better or worse then Apple, just depends how well you make sure you have security on it.

As for Windows, same thing - I don't recall the last time I had a virus, I would wild guess over 3 years ago.