ambientdroid
Well-Known Member
Just because they served some poo on a spoon doesn't mean you need to lick it clean.
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Antivirus for Android?
- Thread starter tecbarrera
- Start date
Just because they served some poo on a spoon doesn't mean you need to lick it clean.
AngryHatter
Android Expert
1) You can't use a AV site as proof, they are selling the snake oil.
2) The only know infections were detected by the community and removed by google.
Not one AV app has ever found anything.
AngryHatter
Android Expert
Seekdroid - 99 cents with no AV garbage.
alostpacket
Over Macho Grande?
All this discrimination against viruses.... what have they ever done to you?!? 
I try to host 2-3 viruses at any given time to give back to the world.
I try to host 2-3 viruses at any given time to give back to the world.
Sombre
Well-Known Member
Not one, never? Ever? Not ever ever? Never ever ever?
Download enough dodgey looking apps and you shall be rewarded
Yes.
No.
Computer is running Linux Mint (Linux)
Phone is running Android (Linux)
No antivirus needed on Linux systems, there been no Linux viruses. Proofs of concept does not count.
One should be careful with what one installs onto a phone, as there maybe malware but NOT viruses here. Things like wallpaper apps which request internet access, location data, phone calls and messages, Angry Birds which didn't come from Rovio, both are highly suspicious examples of having malware. Common sense and one will be OK.
Obviously if one goes installing every POS in the Market willy-nilly without looking at details, then maybe one should have security software on the phone.
Sombre
Well-Known Member
Taken from Wikipedias entry on Malware:
The first worms, network-borne infectious programs, originated not on personal computers, but on multitasking Unix systems.
Today, worms are most commonly written for the Windows OS, although a few like Mare-D[14] and the Lion worm[15] are also written for Linux and Unix systems. Worms today work in the same basic way as 1988's Internet Worm: they scan the network and leverage vulnerable computers to replicate. Because they need no human intervention, worms can spread with incredible speed. The SQL Slammer infected thousands of computers in a few minutes.
And even though I'd prefer to see you android virus/malware denialists fall flat on your faces, here's some more reading:
SMobile Systems Analysis of Android App Store Reveals Massive Potential for Malware and... -- COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 22 /PRNewswire/ --
Marvintheparanoid
Member
Well, to be accurate, a worm is not a virus either. It is malware.
Computer worm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer.
That said, it is incorrect to say that UNIX is virus-free as there have been real world examples found such as Bliss
The reason they are uncommon is that a) usually, UNIX systems are run in a more protected mode and b) 'UNIX' is not a single entity - there are many versions in use and a virus would need to be rewritten to work for many different types.
That said, it is unlikely that viruses will be a notable problem for Android phones and until there are known viruses in the wild, you would be better to spend your time being selective which apps you install.
Sombre
Well-Known Member
Okay then, I shall correct myself and say I am running AntiVirus Free to protect me from malware, which in my screen shot above, you can see it does quite well.
Edit:
My understanding was that there weren't many viri on *nix because it simply isn't popular with mainstream users. That was true of android as well until last year where android phones outsold iPhones. I'm thinking virus writers would be a tad silly NOT to target android.
Edit:
My understanding was that there weren't many viri on *nix because it simply isn't popular with mainstream users. That was true of android as well until last year where android phones outsold iPhones. I'm thinking virus writers would be a tad silly NOT to target android.
ambientdroid
Well-Known Member
Not one, never? Ever? Not ever ever? Never ever ever?
Download enough dodgey looking apps and you shall be rewarded
What was the malicious app and where did it come from?
I've had a read through this thread and I have to say I find it somewhat amusing that some folk get so worked up about what apps someone may or may not have on their phone. It's their phone, let them use it as they see fit. The internet is a wonderful place.
Is SPB Pirated/Dodgy? Given that it's nearly a tenner, I'd have hoped it would be top drawer......
I use Lookout because of the ability to lock/find my device if I were to lose it (although the pic provided by Sombre does give me a little cause for concern), but once/if HTC pull their finger out and sort out HTCSense.com I'll probably uninstall it. Incidentally, I've found the Lookout phone locator pretty good as well, when used in work and at home, it always finds my device to within 20 or so metres.
These arguments about the app taking space on your phone, or causing performance issues are nonsense to be honest with you. I've noticed no slow down whatsoever since having it on my device (nor has my GF on her Orange San Francisco) and it only takes up 2.87MB!
Is SPB Pirated/Dodgy? Given that it's nearly a tenner, I'd have hoped it would be top drawer......
I use Lookout because of the ability to lock/find my device if I were to lose it (although the pic provided by Sombre does give me a little cause for concern), but once/if HTC pull their finger out and sort out HTCSense.com I'll probably uninstall it. Incidentally, I've found the Lookout phone locator pretty good as well, when used in work and at home, it always finds my device to within 20 or so metres.
These arguments about the app taking space on your phone, or causing performance issues are nonsense to be honest with you. I've noticed no slow down whatsoever since having it on my device (nor has my GF on her Orange San Francisco) and it only takes up 2.87MB!
Sombre
Well-Known Member
As you can see from my notification bar at the top of my screen on the screenshot the app came from the Marketplace.
The name? Well, sheesh, apparently there are NO virus on Android, so, if you don't have Anti Virus then you have nothing to worry about, if you do then your app should pick this 'malicious' app up.
You know, I debated whether to leave the name up in the screen shot, but that would have been helping people who clearly thumbed their nose at me.
I'll just say the APP has three words in the name and one of those words is SPY (great way to find malicious apps, search for 'spy' on the MP).
Cheers,
Sombre.
briannamartin0
Lurker
I think Norton is a good Antivirus for Android HTC EVO 4G
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
I love how you make the argument that you can find virus filled apps on the market without providing the name of the "malicious app". People have posted on here before (and perhaps even in this thread) about how AV apps have detected Wireless tether or even Superuser as malicious apps. These are false positives obviously. How do we know that this "malicious app" that you "found on the market" isn't just another false positive?
omnius
Android Enthusiast
you are rude, but that was some funny as hell stuff, I lol'd
johnandroid123
Newbie
I use avast mobile protection,I am excited about this antivirus as it has anti-theft and phone tracking.If you have avast acount any time you can see where is your phone
ardchoille
Android Expert
Google doesn't think so. Here is a nice article by Google’s Open Source Programs Manager, Chris DiBona (B.S. in computer science, M.S. in software engineering):
"Google’s Open Source Programs Manager, Chris DiBona, recently posted a to his Google+ page a rant of sorts calling out mobile antivirus companies.
“Sometimes I read an article about open source that drives me nuts. A recent one stated, without irony, that ‘critics have been pounding the table for years about open source being inherently insecure’ and that android is festooned with viruses because of that and because we do not exert apple like controls over the app market.”
In the post that follows he effectively explains how there is nothing inherently insecure about open source. Further more, no major cell phone has a ‘virus’ problem in the traditional sense that windows and some mac machines have seen. If there were, they haven’t gotten very far due to the user sandboxing models and the nature of the underlying kernels. Then his post gets especially juicy,
”virus companies are playing on your fears to try to sell you bs protection software for Android, RIM and IOS. They are charlatans and scammers. IF you work for a company selling virus protection for android, rim or IOS you should be ashamed of yourself.”
The fact of the matter is, the few issues we’ve seen haven’t been viruses, but rather trojans. Viruses are different in that they have the property of spreading infection.
“The barriers to spreading such a program from phone to phone are large and difficult enough to traverse when you have legitimate access to the phone, but this isn’t independence day, a virus that might work on one device won’t magically spread to the other.”
In short, the claim is if you read an analyst report about ‘viruses’ infecting your android phone, its safe to assume that analyst firm is dishonest and is staffed with, as DiBona would say, charlatans.
The openess of Android demands treating customers as responsible adults in order to offer them more control over software choices, which includes giving them the ability to make bad decisions. App permissions are expressed at the time of download and it is up to the user to accept them or not."
Source: Google’s Chris DiBona Calls Out Mobile Antivirus Companies
Sorry, not true. Nobody decides consciously to install malware. There are such things as Trojan Horses and Zero Day Exploits you know. Also you can't realistically expect people to carefully consider Permissions, EULAs and ToSs. I would need an entire legal department to do that for me if that's supposed to happen 'responsibly'! That agreement stuff is a perverse legalese cop-out heavily favoring the large corporations while victimising perfectly normal use by Joe Blow and Jane Doe from the get-go.
(A bit like airtravel today: you pay a fortune and then you get treated like a criminal before you have even boarded the flight).
True. Plus that the efficacy of the various anti-malware apps out there wildly varies over time. Today Avast may be on top, but next week their databases may themselves be compromised and then they'll be the worst of the bunch!
Didn't something like that happen to Sophos not too long ago?
Sure they do. They don't say "I'm going to install malware today." But they do consciously install malware. The malware doesn't just show up there by itself.
Well, in theory, of course. But 1) A trojan is something you choose to install. It doesn't just show up by itself magically. 2) I've never in the past five years seen a single case of a zero-day exploit documented in the news about Android. The only thing I've read about is "the rise of malware" and some trojans (which the user has to actively install). 3) "antivirus" does not protect you from zero-day exploits.
Sure you can. We have a whole thread here about how to use common sense to avoid trojans. I don't have a legal team with me, and yet somehow in all my years of using Android never have I read about a new trojan in Android Market or Google Play and then thought "Shoot! I can't believe I installed that!" It's not just luck.
