15 replies to this topic

[garywojdan81]

I know this has probably been beaten to death before, but I don't recall seeing anything specific on it from this community. I respect the expertise and opinions of the devs & members here so I'd like to know what everyone thinks.

Do we need to use any antivirus or antimalware protection?

If it's recommended, what app is best & why?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[(TSON)]

It's simply too detrimental to performance to be ideal & there's not enough out there where you should be worried (yet.) It's a huge scam building off of paranoia.

[Saik0Shinigami]

If you only install trusted apps and do even the most basic research(permissions) before downloading an app, you're probably never going to get a virus.

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[vash_h]

I have it installed just in case my gf downloads something I normally won't..

Sent from my XT910

[MrFrankRazr]

Nope.

[snives]

DO NOT USE ANTIVIRUS IN ANDROID

Google has said it themselves (Chris Dibona,

Google's open-source programs manager at the time)

, Antivirus software can not work due to how the OS functions, and at best will have no impact on your device. If they do anything beyond sitting there idling, they are more likely causing harm than anything. Security measures that do work are verifying the permissions of apps before installing them, or using software like

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. If you are really paranoid, periodically check your SMS usage.

[Saik0Shinigami]

DO NOT USE ANTIVIRUS IN ANDROID

Google has said it themselves (Chris Dibona,

Google's open-source programs manager at the time)

, Antivirus software can not work due to how the OS functions, and at best will have no impact on your device. If they do anything beyond sitting there idling, they are more likely causing harm than anything. Security measures that do work are verifying the permissions of apps before installing them, or using software like

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. If you are really paranoid, periodically check your SMS usage.

Source please?
Just saying if Antivirus doesn't work at the OS level then why does this article/study exist?

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If it doesn't work at the OS level then there would be no way to test these apps and get any results from is. Sorry to say it but I think your source is BS.

BUT I still stand by checking permissions and downloading only trusted apps as the best measure right now... the trade off is too great for so few viruses out at the moment. If you really wanna try a sketchy app there are some emulators around such as Bluestacks App Player and such, where you risk virtually nothing since your computer isn't actually a phone.

[snives]

Source please?
Just saying if Antivirus doesn't work at the OS level then why does this article/study exist?

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If it doesn't work at the OS level then there would be no way to test these apps and get any results from is. Sorry to say it but I think your source is BS.

BUT I still stand by checking permissions and downloading only trusted apps as the best measure right now... the trade off is too great for so few viruses out at the moment. If you really wanna try a sketchy app there are some emulators around such as Bluestacks App Player and such, where you risk virtually nothing since your computer isn't actually a phone.

Those are detecting general malware, not viruses. Please do not confuse the two things.

Also, with my source being one of the heads directly in charge of overseeing Android, I don't imagine he would say such without it being true.

Edit > Here's that source.

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[Saik0Shinigami]

Do we need to use any antivirus or antimalware protection?

Those are detecting general malware, not viruses. Please do not confuse the two things.

Also, with my source being one of the heads directly in charge of overseeing Android, I don't imagine he would say such without it being true.

OP asked on both accounts... So yes, I'm still standing by my stance. In the end I've been working on, in, and between computers for almost 15 years now. I know the difference between malware and viruses. I also know that to a "normal" person, all malware is a "virus". So I make the assumption that I am talking to a "normal" person since it's the majority or users out there.

If you're lazy or oblivious or just plain stupid... get one... preferably one at the top of the list in the link i posted above.
If you actually look at permissions and use trusted apps, then you have no reason to worry about getting any "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" protection on current android devices.

Also, you are correct about the virus issue. It's impossible for apps to run outside of the operating system to scan it at the moment. But, that doesn't mean some clever dev out there won't find a way sooner or later to make it happen. It's a linux kernel after all, there might be some way to directly interface with it skipping past android altogether to accomplish just that.


Edit: saw your edit... "Yes, a virus of the traditional kind is possible, but not probable. 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. "

[garywojdan81]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I dumped Lookout yesterday & hope to see a bump in battery life. Slight increase in antutu/smartbench scores so it makes me wonder.just how much system resources were being used.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

[mopar57]

Are the virus for Android..yes
Do you need protection...no such thing

The great thing here, is if your like most of us your flashing a ROM every few days. This is your protection

Let's just say its not hard to create a virus that gets past anti-virus software. Your big name companies are now using a rep. protection, to stay away from virus infected sites.

Bottom line...nothing that connects to the internet is 100% safe

[Krazr]

Those are detecting general malware, not viruses. Please do not confuse the two things.

Also, with my source being one of the heads directly in charge of overseeing Android, I don't imagine he would say such without it being true.

Edit > Here's that source.

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Great read! I dropped lookout a few days back because all it was doing was scanning apps. Since I am only downloading app's that have been tested and received decent ratings/reviews, it didn't make much sense. And now it makes even more sense after that article.

[jpcalhoun]

Everything I've read would lead one to believe that the risk of a virus or malware, at this point in time, impacting the cellular community is pretty low. However, the risk greatly increases on a rooted phone. The reason for the increased risk is that the security features built-in to software (Google Wallet for instance) can be literally by-passed because of root access. Although there doesn't appear to be an issue yet, Google recommends that if you have a rooted phone you should not install or run Google Wallet for this reason...not yet anyway...a fix for that is being developed.

[mopar57]

Yes this is a problem, but even if your not rooted the info can still be obtain. This is from my experience, I took a stock non rooted phone, and was able to get all bank passwords and any other user name and password that was on the device. It was a good way to show my gf to let me root her phone to prevent that security flaw. So IMO root does not have anything to deal with this.

[vash_h]

Well.. Just a few moments ago I was looking for a flash light application, the first 2 I installed, avast antivirus warned me its a mal ware.. I ignored it.. And the flash light application works. Then I noticed onova data telling me the app is hogging my data.. Wtf?! Immediately uninstalled it.

On to search for a second flash light app.. Found another one.. Again avast warned me.. Thus tine I choose to uninstall the application. The third flash light application received green light from avast so I kept it.

So.. I would say.. With the large amount of fully functional applications such as the first flash light application in google market, without antivirus I would not have known it is a maleate.. God knows what data it was sending out..

I donot regret installing antivirus on my phone. Just do a search on internet and make sure your antivirus is a performing antivirus. It may not be much our any virus, but its doing a hell of a job detecting maleate.

Sent from my XT910

[jpcalhoun]

Yes this is a problem, but even if your not rooted the info can still be obtain. This is from my experience, I took a stock non rooted phone, and was able to get all bank passwords and any other user name and password that was on the device. It was a good way to show my gf to let me root her phone to prevent that security flaw. So IMO root does not have anything to deal with this.

Well, I you think so that is fine with me. The fact that you got that information off a non rooted phone has nothing to do with the issue. The only point that I was trying to make is that root can leave your phone's built-in security more vunerable...at least Google's engineers and security people have verified that in one case.