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Thread ID: 130118 2013-03-27 03:26:00 Android trojans -- Its coming wainuitech (129) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1334277 2013-03-27 05:32:00 Also we are talking about a Phone not a PC, has a built in option to restore factory settings and it'll still work just fine. You can back up all your apps and documents onto the cloud too to make it even less of an issue.
Anyone that stores their only copy of something important on a phone (or anything else really) only has themselves to blame if they lose it. Wiping your phone and starting over is nothing like reinstalling windows.

I leave the option to install apps from unknown sources turned off usually and only turn it on for tings I'm sure of (makes me laugh the samsung app store and services require it to be off).
dugimodo (138)
1334278 2013-03-27 06:01:00 Chill is right though, it's (terrible) social engineering. There's no inherent flaw from the fact it's android. Sorry but that reasoning doesn't hold water either.

Doesn't matter what type of OS is attacked.

Meaning "if" No one made or looked for imperfections in ANY OS, then there wouldn't be a problem. Take Windows for example, lets say for a moment NO ONE ever made viruses, malware etc, then it wouldn't matter as the OS's could be full of holes and no one would care because no one would take advantage of them.

Saying Android is perfectly safe and cant be a target - time will tell, then watch all the " it wont happen to me's" back peddling ;) When someone creates something that will bypass any current inbuilt protection what will the people be saying -- I can tell you right now, there will be all sort of BS excuses.
wainuitech (129)
1334279 2013-03-27 06:28:00 Sorry but that reasoning doesn't hold water either.

Doesn't matter what type of OS is attacked.

Meaning "if" No one made or looked for imperfections in ANY OS, then there wouldn't be a problem. Take Windows for example, lets say for a moment NO ONE ever made viruses, malware etc, then it wouldn't matter as the OS's could be full of holes and no one would care because no one would take advantage of them.

Saying Android is perfectly safe and cant be a target - time will tell, then watch all the " it wont happen to me's" back peddling ;) When someone creates something that will bypass any current inbuilt protection what will the people be saying -- I can tell you right now, there will be all sort of BS excuses.

I kind of agree with you here - wasn't this the stance of Apple some time ago, or at least their users? "Apple OS can't get viruses (etc). Doesn't need an AV." - and this was a so-called selling point for many people. Then a similar thing was done as described here. But still required an idiot between the keyboard and chair to actually press the "Go!" button for any damage to be done.

So as The Error Guy says, it's not the fact that it's Android - it could happen on any OS (especially Windows) because there are a lot of idiots out there and lots of script kiddies playing....
johcar (6283)
1334280 2013-03-27 09:42:00 Problem is there are many flaws in Windows that don't require any interaction from the user. In Android, it has warnings and tells you in advance: This app can send text messages as you, this app can read your contact list etc
On Windows, I remember not that long ago with XP all you had to do was stay online for more than 2-3 minutes, no browsing / traffic, and you'd get infected...
Chilling_Silence (9)
1334281 2013-03-27 23:12:00 In my opinion a malware/virus attack isn't "critical" unless it can infect the target system with no known interaction to the user, or interaction that is undetected (eg malicious code injected into a play store APK).

Lets take the above scenario, Jim downloads Angry Birds from the play store via unsecure WiFi at his favourite cafe. As his download is pending a malicious sever injects a "virus" that causes the phone to send premium texts and go to ad websites. The code is engineerd in such a way that Jim doesn't get any "Unknown Sources" prompts or warnings that Angry Birds can send SMS's. Jim then unknowingly installs Angry Birds and the malicious code.

To me that is a serious threat. In reality, this "trojan" was downloaded from a 3rd party site, required the explicit permission of the user to be installed (and the user to tick "allow unknown sources" which meant they read the warnings) AND the installer would have displayed the permissions the .apk was trying to use (send SMS messages)

So this threat doesn't make android insecure. iOS is no more secure, think of ticking "unknown sources" as the equivalent of jail breaking. When using the standard market/stores there's no way (that I know of to date) of getting a malicious app. Windows Phone is a different story. The point is, I don't believe that this is a serious threat in any way.
The Error Guy (14052)
1334282 2013-03-27 23:21:00 Windows Phone is more locked down in terms of security than other platforms. For example, only developers can install apps outside of the Store (and even then only three at a time). With the SMS issue, apps can prefill a text message and phone number, but cannot automatically send it - the user must manually press send. pcuser42 (130)
1334283 2013-03-28 04:06:00 With the SMS issue, apps can prefill a text message and phone number, but cannot automatically send it - the user must manually press send.

Which is a good thing IMO, I can't really think of a situation where an app would need or should be able to send a text in the background. I haven't actually met an app that sends messages anyway.
The Error Guy (14052)
1334284 2013-03-28 04:08:00 The only one that I know of that does that is on the iPhone to activate that Apple <-> Apple messaging service ? iMessage?

On Android, in Jellybean, it pops up and warns you before *anything* sends a message if it thinks it'll be to an expensive destination. For instance it pops up when I try and send a text to The Edge (3343) radio station, or the Txt-a-Park thingies...
Chilling_Silence (9)
1334285 2013-03-28 04:20:00 I had forgotten about that, something along the lines of "[app] want's to send an SMS, which is a service which may cost you money"

Shows how much I actually use SMS active apps, now that chill mentions it I can think of some very good uses for apps being able to interact with the SMS services.
The Error Guy (14052)
1334286 2013-04-04 21:46:00 securitywatch.pcmag.com

Some common sense at the end of the article...
johcar (6283)
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