Hello I I recently purchased a galaxy s3 from AT&T. What I noticed right off the bat when I first purchased the phone when I was connected to my wifi was that my neighbor had pictures on his mobile device which was automatically transferred to my phone. I had noticed that the file sharing option was enabled, so I disabled the option, it's been 2 months since that happen, all the sudden today it happened again with the program enabling itself, I now have 1400 pictures from my neighbors mobile device on my Galaxy s3. I'm unable to delete these pictures, which takes up memory. I called Samsung directly and they said at this time there is nothing they can do to help me. I consider this a serious breach of privacy let me repeat myself, a serious breach of privacy and security. Imagine that I'm connected to wifi in, say, Starbucks, and a man with illegal data on his phone gets transferred to my phone and there's no way to delete that data, what am I supposed to do? As I've said before, I've contacted Samsung directly and they've told me there's not an option for deleting those transferred and or stopping the transfer of files. How can that be?
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Help Serious security issue w/ s3 please read!
- Thread starter skorpeoh
- Start date
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- Tags
- samsung galaxy s3
Wow. That IS or could be very serious.
I would merely defeat that feature if possible.
I may upgrade to s Galaxy S3 or S4 in 2013- so I would definitely NOT want this liability.
Another thought is to create a folder for files transferred in this way- and erase or delete the folder content every few days.
I would defeat this feature and perhaps install a firewall of some type to make SURE I did not receive other's private photos or any unknown content.
If this is true-developers take note:
Security Firewall etc. needed.
I would merely defeat that feature if possible.
I may upgrade to s Galaxy S3 or S4 in 2013- so I would definitely NOT want this liability.
Another thought is to create a folder for files transferred in this way- and erase or delete the folder content every few days.
I would defeat this feature and perhaps install a firewall of some type to make SURE I did not receive other's private photos or any unknown content.
If this is true-developers take note:
Security Firewall etc. needed.
Davdi
Android Expert
Can you return the phone to AT&T as not fit for purpose, showing them any emails you have from Samsung about the issue. And hopefully exchange it for a Nexus4/Sony/HTC/Anything else.
(Here in the UK The Sale of Goods Act would apply as the phone is demonstrably not secure or safe to take out in public).
(Here in the UK The Sale of Goods Act would apply as the phone is demonstrably not secure or safe to take out in public).
UserName872
Android Enthusiast
Turned mine off at the very beginning, never had this issue.
SUroot
Extreme Android User
yes. its the only way. otherwise imagine both devices connecting to separate networks.... the chances of the neighbours pictures going all around the internet, passed a billion connected devices and then ending next door are, well, a billion to one
Musky
Android Expert
I have not had this happen, but before I got my S3 a friend had gotten one and he said as soon as he connected to his office WiFi his pictures showed up in the shared folder in every computer on the office network. I have been very careful, but so far haven't had an issue. Where do you go to turn off "file sharing"? I don't see it in my settings.
sherlock5545
Android Expert
You can probably see the same photos from you own computer, they are not stored on your phone, they are into a shared folder your neighbour set, and because you are in the same Wifi, even you can see them.
Heisenberg123
Android Enthusiast
shared files on a shared network that is all, if you are not on your neighbours network than he his on yours, dont worry about space, your viewing them virtually they are not actually being added to the phone
Musky
Android Expert
You need to post some of the ones you consider "bad" so we can see what you're talking about and maybe help!
XplosiV
Master X is Watching You
*sighs*
It's due to Samsung making DNLA "stupidly simple" on the S3 so you can share your pics and vids all nice and easy with AllShare, wifi direct, s-beam etc.
Just go to settings > more settings > nearby devices and go through each setting. There is a specific setting for allowed devices, as there so is for NOT-allowed devices, and there is also a setting just for other devices trying to connect to your phone...
... Set these options up properly and you won't have an issue, or better yet, set them, and keep the option off unless needed.
If you have media you don't want shared, copy that media into a new folder named as anything you want but prefixed with a "." and it should not be accessed by any apps on your phone or via any other means until you rename the folder.
It's due to Samsung making DNLA "stupidly simple" on the S3 so you can share your pics and vids all nice and easy with AllShare, wifi direct, s-beam etc.
Just go to settings > more settings > nearby devices and go through each setting. There is a specific setting for allowed devices, as there so is for NOT-allowed devices, and there is also a setting just for other devices trying to connect to your phone...
... Set these options up properly and you won't have an issue, or better yet, set them, and keep the option off unless needed.
If you have media you don't want shared, copy that media into a new folder named as anything you want but prefixed with a "." and it should not be accessed by any apps on your phone or via any other means until you rename the folder.
sound advice thank you. so you would name the folder something like private but type it as "private" on the phone
XplosiV
Master X is Watching You
Thanks, no you name it as .private
Then it should be ignored by the system and most file browsers.
You may need something like ROOT EXPLORER to be able to browse folders and files hidden in this way. Root explorer will work evan if NOT rooted, but it is LIMITED to folders and files that have read/write access. It will display hidden files and folders but it will NOT let you access some CRITICAL folders unless you are actually rooted. (you'll just see that they exist, they just won't open)
For the purposes of hiding the odd pic or video, you can just rename the file or containing folder and prefix it with the full stop (or period if that's clearer for you)
