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Android permissions explained, security tips, and avoiding malware

alostpacket said:
The problem is these apps could easily use their own log without asking special permission. That permission allows them to read the logs of OTHER apps.

And, while not the fault of the person requesting the permission, other apps tend to "leak" sensitive info like contact names, numbers and GPS coordinates, and so on. Even system apps and carrier apps make this "leak" mistake from time to time.
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Oh...Hmmm. I can always count on you to educate me, ALP. How hard is it for a dev, like yourself, to create an internal crash log in the app.

I might try playing with the permission deny app and see if it works with CM7.
 
Roze said:
Oh...Hmmm. I can always count on you to educate me, ALP. How hard is it for a dev, like yourself, to create an internal crash log in the app.

I might try playing with the permission deny app and see if it works with CM7.
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It's roughly 30 lines of code.... heh -- pretty simple. And there are probable several dozen pre-made libraries devs could use.

As for permission denied, is that the one by stericson? he's really good. And a legend among ROM devs IIRC.


The only thing is you may find apps crashing because they will get a SecurityException, and not expect it. Though some people have had a lot of luck with it.
 
alostpacket said:
It's roughly 30 lines of code.... heh -- pretty simple. And there are probable several dozen pre-made libraries devs could use.

As for permission denied, is that the one by stericson? he's really good. And a legend among ROM devs IIRC.


The only thing is you may find apps crashing because they will get a SecurityException, and not expect it. Though some people have had a lot of luck with it.
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Yes, Permission deny is by Steriscon. I only disabled permissions that I think are useless and I know what they are for.

I think these type of apps don't go well with my Atrix. I am running CM7 and the built in permission tinkering app just crash every time I select it.

I swear, some devs should read your guides :/
 
Is it normal for one installed app to start up all other installed apps to run in the background? I was checking background activity on my device over the weekend and noticed that , when I open a random app, only that app and some android system processes only are running in the background.

I checked all apps on my phone and got this consistent result until I got to Enhanced Email. When I started this specific app then view the task log, ALL installed apps were started up in the background.

Is this normal? What permissions could one app have that would start ALL other apps to run in the background?

Does anyone else have Enhanced Email and would like to check if you get the same results?
 
Roze said:
Yes, Permission deny is by Steriscon. I only disabled permissions that I think are useless and I know what they are for.

I think these type of apps don't go well with my Atrix. I am running CM7 and the built in permission tinkering app just crash every time I select it.

I swear, some devs should read your guides :/
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Permission Denied is a good app, but yes, the FC problem exists a lot. Seeing how you're rooted, perhaps you should try LBE Privacy Guard. It's not as extensive in denying permissions, but it blocks the important ones. Plus it's a firewall and data tracker. I use it and it's a must-have for me.
 
Sorry to bring this up again....has anyone noticed battery drainage issues due to an installed app forcing all other apps to run in the background?
 
Seriously, many thanks for the guide to permissions security, and kudos for doing it! However, I've read pages 1, 2 and 8. Now I will have to go back and read the other 5 to see if my current concern is covered elsewhere. Are you still editing the original post with further points raised in the discussion? Why should both a scientific calculator and a simple hangman game require full internet access?

Edit: Aha! Found on page 3 - it's for the the adverts then!
 
alostpacket said:
I'm not sure I follow -- what do you mean by forcing other apps to the background?
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I know it sounds a little confusing and just got word that the developers are workimg on a way for Enhanced Email to not comtribute to an android triggered event that, when Enhanced Email is started up and an account is refreshed or "polled",, I go to a task log and there I see all of my installed apps showing as "running" in the.background.

Ive installed a task killer so to stop all , and not one task at a time as stock can only do. Then as long asni keep EE.s auto sync or check server setbto never...i never get all the apps fired off in the background and my battery last as it should.

But as long as EE refreshes and check for new emails...ky background apps log is full. By the time I drive to or from work, I habe to charge y phone up even though its plugged in and fully charged before hitting the road and no opportunity to stop Ee from refreshing.

Long story short: I have to set ee to never refresh to control this android triggered event.

:(
 
Ah I gotcha, yeah you shouldn't use task killers, that's what is causing your confusion.

The apps the task killer is "killing" are just restarted by the Android OS, because it notices they aren't running and should be.

There are a few dozen arguments about the usefulness of task killers on AF, let me know if you'd like me to dig up a thread or two :)
 
alostpacket said:
Ah I gotcha, yeah you shouldn't use task killers, that's what is causing your confusion.

The apps the task killer is "killing" are just restarted by the Android OS, because it notices they aren't running and should be.

There are a few dozen arguments about the usefulness of task killers on AF, let me know if you'd like me to dig up a thread or two :)
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That is understood, yet here's what I am getting at: When I start up EE and refresh a inbox., "and" no task killer app is imstalled, but I go to the stock "running apps" screen..it shows ALL imstalled apps actively running...so I FC them ome by one.

I next opened any random apps and check the stock running log and do not get this result. Only EE fills up the running log , when EE is exexuted.

I then installed "advanced task killer" for the convience of doimg a mass fc on multiple apps to quicken the analys... Now, my results with this talk killer was the same without the task killer installed: Ee filled even the task killer with the same imstalled appsbin runnimg mode but, after I force stop and "disablel Ee by selecting "never check server" and no inboxes are "polled" or refreshed unill I manually refresh Ee , then I check task log via task killer intermittenly for 5+ minutes and no additional apps kicked in, only system and a few apps like map, etc fornwhatever process android is using such.

But the moment I manually refresh ee to check for new mail, the stock and task killer displays all installed apps in running status.

Hope this make sense for wha tv I am experiencing
 
Rico, why don't you just uninstall Enhanced Email? It seems to be causing you a lot of headache.
 
Rico ANDROID said:
That is understood, yet here's what I am getting at: When I start up EE and refresh a inbox., "and" no task killer app is imstalled, but I go to the stock "running apps" screen..it shows ALL imstalled apps actively running...so I FC them ome by one.

I next opened any random apps and check the stock running log and do not get this result. Only EE fills up the running log , when EE is exexuted.

I then installed "advanced task killer" for the convience of doimg a mass fc on multiple apps to quicken the analys... Now, my results with this talk killer was the same without the task killer installed: Ee filled even the task killer with the same imstalled appsbin runnimg mode but, after I force stop and "disablel Ee by selecting "never check server" and no inboxes are "polled" or refreshed unill I manually refresh Ee , then I check task log via task killer intermittenly for 5+ minutes and no additional apps kicked in, only system and a few apps like map, etc fornwhatever process android is using such.

But the moment I manually refresh ee to check for new mail, the stock and task killer displays all installed apps in running status.

Hope this make sense for wha tv I am experiencing
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What apps are shown as running when you do all this?
 
alostpacket said:
What apps are shown as running when you do all this?
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Sorry I didn't follow up sooner. The developers of Enhanced Email did a great job following up with customers, recognized the issue, worked around the clock and updated the app so that it no longer starts other installed apps up when EE is opened..

Click the link below to read the dev "What's New" comments for the latest Version 1.32.1 released Jan 3, 2012. I would recommend anyone with Enhanced Email installed to get this update! My battery life is back to normal!

Yup, Ive never heard of an app that can trigger other apps to start up, running in the background, but it sure did and killed the battery in MINUTES. It must have been a code conflict. I would bet there may be other apps that could cause the same effect once such app exist on your android device.


Click Here for Enhanced Email (Android Market)
 
Still not sure what was going wrong there but I'm glad you got it sorted, and glad to here those devs are nice -- they make the rest of us devs proud :D
 
alostpacket said:
Still not sure what was going wrong there but I'm glad you got it sorted, and glad to here those devs are nice -- they make the rest of us devs proud :D
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No one was sure., even the developers didnt realize it was happening, but it was. My battery is back to normal and thats a sigh of relief! GLAD the app itself didnt turn "rogue"

.......And CONGRATS
........ ALostPacket
........ On your new
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...... P R O M O T I O N
 
I posted for the first time on intros and went to this thread immediately afterwards as I am new (a) to the forum and (b) to Droid (Samsung Galaxy S2). I am old school (and now former) programmer and this guide at the beginnign is fantastic, and yes, the substance of the post may may make you take a nap on your laptop but you have to read it to secure your device. I would add to the warnings - watch for the undisclosed fees as I learned some of these app companies add these with no disclosure.
 
MCW said:
I posted for the first time on intros and went to this thread immediately afterwards as I am new (a) to the forum and (b) to Droid (Samsung Galaxy S2). I am old school (and now former) programmer and this guide at the beginnign is fantastic, and yes, the substance of the post may may make you take a nap on your laptop but you have to read it to secure your device. I would add to the warnings - watch for the undisclosed fees as I learned some of these app companies add these with no disclosure.
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Thanks much, and great advice :) -- some info on the billing permission is definitely planned for the next revision.
 
I dont like apps that have added charged built in. there was a news report of a person letting the child play a game that ended up racking a few thousand dollars onto the phone bill . You would think they would have a "category" in the market for games with added fees and charges....so I can avoid them like the yeahha ,oops! I mean "plague" :rolleyes:
 
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