greetings. just 2 questions: 1. since android became the most popular OS there are more malwares with root access,unroted or rooted doesnt makes any difference for this special malware. so can that malware cause unrepaired brick that u cant fix it via factory rest and i need to reflash my stock rom? 2. about apps check, its better to upload to virustotal than any av? or do i have to use both ?
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android security
- Thread starter stvs
- Start date
To answer your questions in reverse order:
2) I've no idea what virustotal is, but the most important thing is to be careful what you install. Don't install from untrusted sources, and check that the app permissions seem reasonable for what the app is doing. Use a virus scanner if it makes you feel happier, but remember that all such apps will miss things (and report false positives) so don't rely on it or assume that you are safe because you use one. Applying a bit of sense before installing is more important and more effective than an AV app.
Note that there are no true viruses for Android. There is malware, same as any platform, but it relies on you installing it in the first place. And there is no malware "with root access", but if you have root access it's possible for malware to take advantage of that.
1) Most malware is concerned with making money rather than trashing your device, so you should be more worried about something that might steal your data than about something bricking your phone. The real difference that root makes to malware is that if you have root access enabled it could in principle install itself in a way that would allow it to survive a factory reset, something that is very hard on an unrooted device (because the malware would need to get root to do that, and rooting exploits are device-specific and usually require a computer to utilise them).
But being rooted does mean that the phone is not locked down as tight. So if you don't feel happy with taking that responsibility, don't root. Personally I'd say that the real question is do you want to do anything that requires root? If not, then don't root just to say you've done it. And if you do want to, then just remember to take care with what you install, because the only way that malware can get onto an android phone is if you install it.
2) I've no idea what virustotal is, but the most important thing is to be careful what you install. Don't install from untrusted sources, and check that the app permissions seem reasonable for what the app is doing. Use a virus scanner if it makes you feel happier, but remember that all such apps will miss things (and report false positives) so don't rely on it or assume that you are safe because you use one. Applying a bit of sense before installing is more important and more effective than an AV app.
Note that there are no true viruses for Android. There is malware, same as any platform, but it relies on you installing it in the first place. And there is no malware "with root access", but if you have root access it's possible for malware to take advantage of that.
1) Most malware is concerned with making money rather than trashing your device, so you should be more worried about something that might steal your data than about something bricking your phone. The real difference that root makes to malware is that if you have root access enabled it could in principle install itself in a way that would allow it to survive a factory reset, something that is very hard on an unrooted device (because the malware would need to get root to do that, and rooting exploits are device-specific and usually require a computer to utilise them).
But being rooted does mean that the phone is not locked down as tight. So if you don't feel happy with taking that responsibility, don't root. Personally I'd say that the real question is do you want to do anything that requires root? If not, then don't root just to say you've done it. And if you do want to, then just remember to take care with what you install, because the only way that malware can get onto an android phone is if you install it.