First malware in the wild found exploiting Bluebox's Android app signing flaw

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  • Reply 21 of 124
    mikejonesmikejones Posts: 323member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Just_Me View Post


    About 100 devices from 21 different vendors. You have a strange definition of smaller.   



    You seem to have a reading comprehension problem. I was referring to the amount of people using Cyanogenmod. By Cyanogenmod's estimates there are 5.6 million active installs. That's barely over 1/2 of 1% of all Android devices. It's a miniscule minority of people.

  • Reply 22 of 124
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NexusPhan View Post


     


    They don't care. They don't realize that if you keep you never change your standard security features that this can't happen. That you have to go in the security setting and bypass the warning that pops up. That Google scans every app in it's app store using the same tools that Symantec does. That Google's nexus phones have already been patched. None of this matters to them. They just want to hate.



     


    Hey, where can I get Adblock from?


     


    Without enabling possibly trojan infested side loading?

  • Reply 23 of 124
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Negafox View Post


    This is akin to crying wolf about malware being distributed via Cydia. So stick to Google Play and you will be fine then.



     


    But you can access nefarious Android stores with a non-rooted Android phone. You need a jailbroken iPhone to get on Cydia, in which case the user is probably sophisticated enough to realize what they're dealing with. 


     


    By the time your mom's free Android phone has finished uploading its contact and Google Wallet information to a rogue Croatian server, it's too late. 

  • Reply 24 of 124

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NexusPhan View Post


     


    They don't care. They don't realize that if you keep you never change your standard security features that this can't happen. That you have to go in the security setting and bypass the warning that pops up. That Google scans every app in it's app store using the same tools that Symantec does. That Google's nexus phones have already been patched. None of this matters to them. They just want to hate.



     


    It should be noted that any android phone using Google Apps (so any official "Google Certified" android phone) already received a "hotfix" via the Play Services.


    This doesn't solve the original file-order problem when checking apk signatures, but verifies sideloaded apps before installing ("verify and install" option when opening a downloaded APK).


     


    So basically, if you have an android phone with Google Play Services installed, you're on the safe side even if you install sideloaded apps.


     


    Some more informationen about it can be found here: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/2812853?hl=en

  • Reply 25 of 124
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MikeJones View Post


    So then tell all the fandroids to stop crowing over being able to side-load third party apps.



    Would you kindly provide the URLs to such posts here?

  • Reply 26 of 124
    just_mejust_me Posts: 590member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


     


    Hey, where can I get Adblock from?


     


    Without enabling possibly trojan infested side loading?



    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.detector

  • Reply 27 of 124
    richard getzrichard getz Posts: 1,142member

    Quote:


    However, one of the primary key features of Android is the "openness" to allow users to install software from other stores.



    That freedom has now morphed into a liability.



     


    Apple fanboys say Duh! while Android and Microsoft fanboys are shocked at the reality. 

  • Reply 28 of 124
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member


     


    He was referring to ad blockers as opposed to ad detectors.  Ad blockers are no longer allowed in the Play Store so one must enable side loading to install an ad blocker.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


     


    Hey, where can I get Adblock from?


     


    Without enabling possibly trojan infested side loading?



     


    How does one get Adblock on their iPhone or iPad?

  • Reply 29 of 124
    just_mejust_me Posts: 590member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DroidFTW View Post


     


    He was referring to ad blockers as opposed to ad detectors.  Ad blockers are no longer allowed in the Play Store so one must enable side loading to install an ad blocker.


     


     


    How does one get Adblock on their iPhone or iPad?



    ah. Here you go


     


    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1916098

  • Reply 30 of 124
    bleh1234bleh1234 Posts: 146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


     


    Hey, where can I get Adblock from?


     


    Without enabling possibly trojan infested side loading?



    https://adblockplus.org/en/android There you go.

  • Reply 31 of 124

    Quote:


    The discovered malware apps are secretly modified versions of legitimate apps that most Android devices can't detect as being contaminated, thanks to longstanding flaws in Android's security system that all the eyes of the open source community failed to detect.



     


    ...that all the eyes of the open source AND commercial security community failed to detect.


  • Reply 32 of 124


     


    Quote:



    Android malware authors party like its 1999




    Android apps routinely demand vast, unnecessary and inappropriate permissions to a wide range of capabilities prior to installation, in a process most users click through without examination.


    ...but Android apps routinely demand vast, unnecessary and inappropriate permissions to a wide range of capabilities prior to installation, in a process most users click through without examination.



     


    I guess once you find a good sentence, it pays to paste it in as many times as you can get away with.


     


     


  • Reply 33 of 124
    Dan_DilgerDan_Dilger Posts: 1,583member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    DED seems quite desperate to engineer this into a big issue and stir up a panic.

     



     


    You can keep telling yourself that malware and spyware has no impact on the platform, but that didn't work out well for Windows XP did it? 


     


    The only difference here is that Microsoft's malware problem trumped its vast advantage in third party developer support over Macs.


    Android is a hobbyist platform that doesn't have an advantage of any sort. iOS has the advantage, but Android has the malware. 


     


    I wonder how that's going to work out.

  • Reply 34 of 124
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Negafox View Post


    In other words these applications are being distributed on third-party app stores in China. This is akin to crying wolf about malware being distributed via Cydia. So stick to Google Play and you will be fine then.



    get a clue - that's how most China consumers do it, and many other developing world countries too. they prefer local services for many reasons including cultural relevancy and peer familiarity as well as getting pirateware free. they have as little to do with Google and Google Play as possible. and that's where hundreds of millions of cheap Android phones are being sold, so the potential for malware infestation is huge.


     


    we live in a first world bubble here. malware doesn't.

  • Reply 35 of 124
    Dan_DilgerDan_Dilger Posts: 1,583member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Just_Me View Post


     


    Apple has strict review. Nothing like this will ever happen.


     


    Oh. Wait


     


    http://www.macworld.com/article/2037099/ios-app-contains-potential-malware.html



     


    Had you actually read that article, rather than just copy and pasting the link, you'd have seen that the "malware" was an MP3 file with a metadata tag that included a URL to a potential malware site that wasn't active. 


     


    There is no way to open such a URL tag on an MP3 on iOS, so calling this malware is such a desperate stretch it makes you look hysterical.

  • Reply 36 of 124
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Corrections View Post


    Had you actually read that article, rather than just copy and pasting the link, you'd have seen that the "malware" was an MP3 file with a metadata tag that included a URL to a potential malware site that wasn't active. 


     


    There is no way to open such a URL tag on an MP3 on iOS, so calling this malware is such a desperate stretch it makes you look hysterical.



     


    Correction:  the title of the article was written by the editors at Macworld.


     


    You can share your opinion about the quality of their writing here: http://www.idgcsmb.com/contact/

  • Reply 37 of 124
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Alfiejr View Post


    get a clue - that's how most China consumers do it, and many other developing world countries too. they prefer local services for many reasons including cultural relevancy and peer familiarity as well as getting pirateware free. they have as little to do with Google and Google Play as possible. and that's where hundreds of millions of cheap Android phones are being sold, so the potential for malware infestation is huge.


     


    we live in a first world bubble here. malware doesn't.



    Unfortunately, the same goes for the iPhone, too. In China, many iPhone users rarely use the App Store and instead use third-party websites that have leaked distribution keys to install apps via Safari. What stops these third-party websites from distributing malware to Chinese iPhone users?

  • Reply 38 of 124
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Corrections View Post


    Android is a hobbyist platform



    Best line you've ever written.  Thanks. Overlaid on a market share pie chart it'll make quite a t-shirt.

  • Reply 39 of 124
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,950member
    Zombie botnet… that doesn't sound too bad…
  • Reply 40 of 124
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    droidftw wrote: »
    How does one get Adblock on their iPhone or iPad?

    Press the button at the top of the browser that says 'Reader'.

    ;)

    Side-loading: Apparently it can be done from behind you. While over a barrel.
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