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Root Help! Phone locked by Pirates

funkylogik said:
One thing that worries me is that I think the OP is rooted.. Could an app be smart enough to install itself as a system app on a rooted phone, making it immune to safe mode?
Click to expand...
It could, but this is just a basic noob-targeted ransomware. The exact ransomware *with* the pointing Obama is described there. I would hardly believe someone made a root version of that.
 
Okay...GOT IT! The instructions were spot on...I was just an idiot and kept using the power on button as the volume button...SEE? This is why I wasn't going to attempt to do a flash re-install! LOL

BTW: The virus name/icon reads" Browser Update..

Thanks everyone for your help. As I said, I'm not a techy person, as evidenced by owning a phone for 5yrs and not knowing the difference between the pwr button and the volume button.

You guys here ALWAYS rock.
Much light an love to you all.
Namaste`
 
nubianepiphany said:
Okay...GOT IT! The instructions were spot on...I was just an idiot and kept using the power on button as the volume button...SEE? This is why I wasn't going to attempt to do a flash re-install! LOL

BTW: The virus name/icon reads" Browser Update..

Thanks everyone for your help. As I said, I'm not a techy person, as evidenced by owning a phone for 5yrs and not knowing the difference between the pwr button and the volume button.

You guys here ALWAYS rock.
Much light an love to you all.
Namaste`
Click to expand...
Good to hear that! Glad we could help!
And my condolences for your loss.
 
nubianepiphany said:
Okay...GOT IT! The instructions were spot on...I was just an idiot and kept using the power on button as the volume button...SEE? This is why I wasn't going to attempt to do a flash re-install! LOL

BTW: The virus name/icon reads" Browser Update..

Thanks everyone for your help. As I said, I'm not a techy person, as evidenced by owning a phone for 5yrs and not knowing the difference between the pwr button and the volume button.

You guys here ALWAYS rock.
Much light an love to you all.
Namaste`
Click to expand...
Congratulations!! Now go to Settings, Security, and turn off "Unknown Sources" :thumbsupdroid:

JustRamon said:
Thanks :D Good Night/Day #TimeZones
Click to expand...
0143 here bro so goodnight/morning :)
 
@nubianepiphany , glad these guys got you sorted and your device back up an running.
Kudos to newcomer @JustRamon & old timer ;) @funkylogik for their excellent input!! :)
Cheers guys!
beerchug.gif
 
While I have not personally seen this virus attack Android (until now!), Google search indicates its happening quite often. For sure, something to watch out for in the future. Unfortunately, the following will not help the OP but I'm posting it for general consumption.

The following relates to the FBI virus when it attempts to attack a PC running Windows.

The FBI virus is picked up most readily on porn sites simply by clicking a link, or a popup. The porn site itself may be infected so simply clicking to navigate the site can launch the FBI virus page. However, just because the page is displayed in your browser doesn't mean your PC is infected... yet.

It's very easy to NOT become infected if you know what to do.

1) DO NOT attempt to close your browser.
2) DO NOT attempt to close the website you're on.
3) DO NOT click on any popup messages that may be displayed in your browser.

As long as you don't do any of the things listed above, you PC will NOT download the virus and you will NOT become infected. What triggers the installation is when you start clicking on stuff in your browser to try to get rid of the FBI page. Basically... DON'T CLICK ON ANYTHING!

If you see the FBI page displayed, stop what you're doing in your browser immediately and open Task Manager. To launch Task Manager in Windows, on the keyboard press the keys ctrl+alt+del (all together)... or right click on your Taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu.

Once Task Manager launches, select the Process tab, find the listing(s) of your browser in the list, click on it to highlight it, then click on End Process. You will receive a Task Manager warning... just click on "yes" to confirm. This will kill your browser, and at the same time, ensure the FBI virus does not get installed.

Some portable browsers will launch two instances of the browser and both will be listed in Task Manager. For Firefox portable, you will see firefox.exe and FirefoxPortable.exe. Ending firefox.exe will normally end both instances, but be sure both are killed and your browsers closes when you click on End Process. Once your browser closes, double-check Task Manager to make sure all instances of your browser has been killed.

Once your browser closes, you no longer need to worry about the FBI virus infecting you. Uhhh... as long as you followed the 3 steps above!

I've been on Android for some years now, but never did as much as I do now on my phone. That said, in the past, I didn't even install that many apps on any of my phones. As it is, if there is an app that acts like "Task Manager" on a Windows PC, then it may help to avoid this FBI virus installation/infection.

If any of you know of an app that can successfully kill a browser app (like Task Manager is doing above), please list it.

Of course, now that I'm aware of this virus on Android, I'm out to do some research!

Aloha!
 
nahoku said:
While I have not personally seen this virus attack Android (until now!), Google search indicates its happening quite often. For sure, something to watch out for in the future. Unfortunately, the following will not help the OP but I'm posting it for general consumption.

The following relates to the FBI virus when it attempts to attack a PC running Windows.

The FBI virus is picked up most readily on porn sites simply by clicking a link, or a popup. The porn site itself may be infected so simply clicking to navigate the site can launch the FBI virus page. However, just because the page is displayed in your browser doesn't mean your PC is infected... yet.

It's very easy to NOT become infected if you know what to do.

1) DO NOT attempt to close your browser.
2) DO NOT attempt to close the website you're on.
3) DO NOT click on any popup messages that may be displayed in your browser.

As long as you don't do any of the things listed above, you PC will NOT download the virus and you will NOT become infected. What triggers the installation is when you start clicking on stuff in your browser to try to get rid of the FBI page. Basically... DON'T CLICK ON ANYTHING!

If you see the FBI page displayed, stop what you're doing in your browser immediately and open Task Manager. To launch Task Manager in Windows, on the keyboard press the keys ctrl+alt+del (all together)... or right click on your Taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu.

Once Task Manager launches, select the Process tab, find the listing(s) of your browser in the list, click on it to highlight it, then click on End Process. You will receive a Task Manager warning... just click on "yes" to confirm. This will kill your browser, and at the same time, ensure the FBI virus does not get installed.

Some portable browsers will launch two instances of the browser and both will be listed in Task Manager. For Firefox portable, you will see firefox.exe and FirefoxPortable.exe. Ending firefox.exe will normally end both instances, but be sure both are killed and your browsers closes when you click on End Process. Once your browser closes, double-check Task Manager to make sure all instances of your browser has been killed.

Once your browser closes, you no longer need to worry about the FBI virus infecting you. Uhhh... as long as you followed the 3 steps above!

I've been on Android for some years now, but never did as much as I do now on my phone. That said, in the past, I didn't even install that many apps on any of my phones. As it is, if there is an app that acts like "Task Manager" on a Windows PC, then it may help to avoid this FBI virus installation/infection.

If any of you know of an app that can successfully kill a browser app (like Task Manager is doing above), please list it.

Of course, now that I'm aware of this virus on Android, I'm out to do some research!

Aloha!
Click to expand...
I would say the app info page. It has "force stop", " clear data" and "clear cache", which is basicly taskmanager with some extra features :)

So you could say the way you delete it on android is the way we used, but because you can't open apps while infected, you'll have to jump into save mode.
 
JustRamon said:
I would say the app info page. It has "force stop", " clear data" and "clear cache", which is basicly taskmanager with some extra features :)

So you could say the way you delete it on android is the way we used, but because you can't open apps while infected, you'll have to jump into save mode.
Click to expand...

Force stop may appear to stop the app, but it doesn't close it completely. If you launch your recent apps, you'll still see the browser listed, even if you clear cache. However, if you relaunch the browser from recent apps (after clearing cache), the browser does need to refresh itself. I'm not sure what effect force stop will have as I have no way of testing it without finding that dastardly FBI virus and infecting my phone. As far as clearing data, that's not good as it'll wipe my bookmarks (I use Firefox).

Deleting the virus in safe mode is good info, but I would rather it not install at all. If we could kill the browser... really kill it... I would feel much better. Perhaps the force stop/clearing cache will work. I guess we'll find out one day... actually, hopefully not! Thanks!
 
nahoku said:
Deleting the virus in safe mode is good info, but I would rather it not install at all.
Click to expand...

That's easily accomplished... keep "Unknown sources" disabled in Settings/Security unless you really need it, and enable "Verify apps". This isn't really a virus, it's malware and can only be 'caught' by installing it, which these measures should prevent.
 
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