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Root LBE Privacy Guard: Possible Malware

K

ktchong

Android Enthusiast
I installed LBE Privacy on my LG ESteem, and tried it out for for a few days. I uninstalled LBE Privacy Guard a couple days ago, because it kept hassling me to set permissions every time I installed or used a new app.

Since I had uninstalled LBE Privacy Guard, my phone has not been able to install new apps properly. Whenever I install a new app, the new app would only work until I reboot my phone. After I reboot my phone, the newly installed apps would fail to launch and give the error message: "the application XXX has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again". That's for every new app I have uninstalled since I had uninstalled LBE Privacy Guard on Wednesday.

Another app on my phone, DW Contacts and Phone Dialer Pro, could no longer retain any of my customization settings. DW Contacts popped up an error warning and informed me that the file permission database has some "exception". I immediately knew it's LBE Privacy Guard that had screwed up my phone.

I tried re-installing LBE Privacy Guard, and then reboot my phone. As I expected, LBE Privacy Guard has continued to work after multiple reboots. Then I installed a few other apps, but I am still getting the same errors with all other apps. So now LBE Privacy Guard is the ONLY app that has continued to install and work properly after it had screwed up my phone.

Then, I googled for information on LBE, and found this:
[APP][ROOT] LBE Privacy Guard - Most Powerful privacy protection app for Android - Page 48 - xda-developers

Apparently LBE mines user data and is quite shady about doing it, and it also does not like being uninstalled. I suspect LBE made some low-level changes to the permission. It seems to me that everything else (i.e., every new install) has been blocked and denied permission... except LBE itself.
 
Wipe didn't work. I had to go into recovery and reset my phone. Then I tried installing a bunch of apps and reboot the phone, just to see if those apps stick around. The apps worked fine after rebooting, and everything seemed to be working fine again.

Just to be sure I did not wrongly accuse LBE Privacy Guard, I reinstalled LBE again. Used it for a little while, and then uninstall it again. I immediately got the same problem, AGAIN. Remember: at that point my phone had just been reset, so it was basically clean. So I am certain it was LBE Privacy Guard that messed up all the permissions on my phone. (I recovered and reset again.)

So, use LBE Privacy Guard at your own risk. It'll work fine... until you decide to uninstall it, which it does not like. Then it will totally screw up your phone. It's like a crazy bitch-from-hell who breaks everything in your home when you break up with her.

Not to mention that there have been suspicions in the XDA-developers forums that LBE Privacy Guard is a shady app that snoops user data. Because it is close-sourced app, so nobody knows for sure what it does.

My recommendation: DO NOT INSTALL IT.
 
gbiggie said:
+1^^^
Were you able to get your phone corrected though:confused:
A total wipe was necessary ?
Click to expand...
Clockwork Mod has a "fix permissions" for all apps feature in its recovery mode, which I did not try. I missed that feature earlier. That could have probably fixed the problem.
 
Thanks for the heads up and warning. More con-artists out there these days. Would be nice to find an application that does not come with strings attached or Malware.
 
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