1. Bla1ze's Avatar
    A very smart article from Android Central. Far too many people freak out over Android malware news because the headlines and explanations all sound super scary when in reality, there's a ton of stuff that generally has to happen before the malware can even be installed. A little common sense goes quite far and that's without even considering the background initiatives at play. Also, a pretty great explanation of Google Services here beyond 'it's how we get apps to run on BB10 bruh!' lol.

    Why Android malware scares are almost never as bad as they seem-security-nexus6p-keys-1.jpg

    Why Android malware scares are almost never as bad as they seem | Android Central
    Ecm, howarmat, Tsepz_GP and 6 others like this.
    12-03-16 02:37 PM
  2. howarmat's Avatar
    12-03-16 02:42 PM
  3. anon(9721108)'s Avatar
    And the today in iOS podcast which is quite respected mentioned 17% of the Google play app's are malware. I think that was enough to scare a lot of people into iPhones.

    But then again for every negative android article there are negative iOS articles as well.
    12-03-16 03:29 PM
  4. Silkaz's Avatar
    Interesting, this is something most common sense people know, sadly the vast majority doesn't seem to have common sense.
    12-03-16 03:34 PM
  5. Tsepz_GP's Avatar
    A very smart article from Android Central. Far too many people freak out over Android malware news because the headlines and explanations all sound super scary when in reality, there's a ton of stuff that generally has to happen before the malware can even be installed. A little common sense goes quite far and that's without even considering the background initiatives at play. Also, a pretty great explanation of Google Services here beyond 'it's how we get apps to run on BB10 bruh!' lol.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Why Android malware scares are almost never as bad as they seem | Android Central
    Brilliant

    A lot of the mainstream media tend to get clueless people to write about Smartphones in general, if I were to be paid a cent for everytime I hear Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN or read some post on NYTimes, Forbes etc... Say or write some cringe-worthy article WRT Smartphones that are not iPhones, I'd have my own private jet.

    Everytime I see a headline regarding some new Android Malware, I skim right to the part where it usually says something along the lines of "found in 3rd party app stores" or I look for any mention of Play Store.

    You really have to look for the malware, I've had Androids for around 6years now, and in the early days I loved Rooting and using those 3rd party app stores, and just going nuts installing all kinds of crap, and never did find myself installing malware. These days all you need is in the Play Store and in very rare cases on the website of that company.
    12-03-16 05:13 PM
  6. thurask's Avatar
    I have a feeling most of the chatter about those vulnerabilities on CB fall in one of two groups:

    Oh no, we're all gonna get hacked!
    Haha, this is great for the BB10 Master Race!
    Both of them overlook the realities of the situation, as elucidated in the article. The former forgets/doesn't know that responsible disclosure, quick updates, BlackBerry's own security tweaks and, frankly, the requirement to install shifty Chinese/Russian crap shared by most of these exploits means that a user without a railroad spike in their head, on a fairly recently updated DTEK60/DTEK50/Priv (sorry Americans), is in the vast majority of cases already protected. The latter is what one gets with the railroad spike.

    A lot of the mainstream media tend to get clueless people to write about Smartphones in general, if I were to be paid a cent for everytime I hear Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN or read some post on NYTimes, Forbes etc... Say or write some cringe-worthy article WRT Smartphones that are not iPhones, I'd have my own private jet.
    They're still a hundred billion times smarter than the politicians in charge of tech and electronics...
    12-03-16 06:15 PM
  7. JohnKCG's Avatar
    They aren't that bad of course, but Just as Thomas Edison tried to crush Tesla with their respectives kind of electricity, the companies try to crush their rivals, Am not saying than every article is payed, but as long as there is something to mess, there always will be articles like @Bla1ze is describing right now

    Posted via CB10
    syclone1978 likes this.
    12-03-16 06:16 PM
  8. JulesDB's Avatar
    This thread shows that if it were not for blackberry10, Crackberry and Android Central would have already merged...

    Posted via CB10
    Last edited by JulesDB; 12-06-16 at 12:31 AM.
    12-03-16 07:03 PM
  9. bakron1's Avatar
    I have always said common sense goes a long way when using any device and while online. Nothing is 100% foolproof or secure and as long as you keep that in mind when downloading apps and surfing websites on the grid you will be fine.
    zephyr613 and Dunt Dunt Dunt like this.
    12-03-16 08:12 PM
  10. TgeekB's Avatar
    A very smart article from Android Central. Far too many people freak out over Android malware news because the headlines and explanations all sound super scary when in reality, there's a ton of stuff that generally has to happen before the malware can even be installed. A little common sense goes quite far and that's without even considering the background initiatives at play. Also, a pretty great explanation of Google Services here beyond 'it's how we get apps to run on BB10 bruh!' lol.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Why Android malware scares are almost never as bad as they seem | Android Central
    I give you a lot of credit for posting this. Too much misinformation on these boards about this topic. The best security is the person holding the smartphone.
    jaydee5799 and Thud Hardsmack like this.
    12-04-16 12:19 PM
  11. keyboardweeb's Avatar
    Trouble is that relying on the "Verify Apps" service is like relying on the world's slowest antivirus. Telling people that they're "protected" in any meaningful way by this is..naive, at best.
    12-04-16 09:41 PM
  12. ohaiguise's Avatar
    If I was interested in Android, I wouldn't come to a BlackBerry general discussion?
    12-04-16 09:49 PM
  13. conite's Avatar
    Trouble is that relying on the "Verify Apps" service is like relying on the world's slowest antivirus. Telling people that they're "protected" in any meaningful way by this is..naive, at best.
    Slow? The database is updated immediately when a problem is discovered.

    "With Play Services updating constantly in the background across basically the entire Google Android userbase, as soon as a major vulnerability is reported to Google (often before the public hears about it), it's patched through Verify Apps."
    TgeekB and Laura Knotek like this.
    12-04-16 10:24 PM
  14. keyboardweeb's Avatar
    Yes, slow. When the app itself is malicious why is it even showing up on the store in the first place? Only after hundreds of thousands have installed it they remove and block it, and this happens on Play Store, not just third parties that Google can't control. Verify Apps is clearly not very effective on its own, and whatever testing Google runs on apps prior to posting is similarly ineffective.

    The difference between Verify Apps and antivirus is the antivirus can detect malicious code it doesn't have a signature for and is usually configured to do so by default. Heuristic effectiveness hovers around 70% or so but that's much better than the complete lack of it.

    Verify Apps really shouldn't be relied upon as meaningful protection. Yes, it's something, better than nothing. No, it's not nearly adequate.
    12-05-16 06:08 AM
  15. DenverRalphy's Avatar
    Yes, slow. When the app itself is malicious why is it even showing up on the store in the first place? Only after hundreds of thousands have installed it they remove and block it, and this happens on Play Store, not just third parties that Google can't control. Verify Apps is clearly not very effective on its own, and whatever testing Google runs on apps prior to posting is similarly ineffective.

    The difference between Verify Apps and antivirus is the antivirus can detect malicious code it doesn't have a signature for and is usually configured to do so by default. Heuristic effectiveness hovers around 70% or so but that's much better than the complete lack of it.

    Verify Apps really shouldn't be relied upon as meaningful protection. Yes, it's something, better than nothing. No, it's not nearly adequate.
    Dunno where you're getting your information from. Google's Verify Apps doesn't just scan for AV signatures. It also scans for behavior, and actually has an advantage over 3rd party AV apps because Verify Apps has system level access whereas 3rd party AV apps do not (because like all 3rd party apps, they're run in a sandboxed environment). 3rd party AV apps can scan code for signatures and look for potentially harmful behavior, but what they can't do is scan system level processes as Verify Apps can. As a result, Verify Apps has an advantage over 3rd party AV in its heuristic capabilities.
    12-05-16 09:15 AM
  16. darkehawke's Avatar
    If I was interested in Android, I wouldn't come to a BlackBerry general discussion?
    Was interested enough to click on a clearly labelled article
    12-05-16 10:45 AM
  17. TGR1's Avatar
    I would agree for North America, Europe, etc, running true Android. I am not so confident for the million of very low cost phones and devices sold in places that generally operate beyond Google's oversight.
    12-05-16 10:59 AM
  18. Chemy JMHT's Avatar
    I think sometimes the people install a lot of apps because anyone else did it, to see what it is, because didn't read the info in another app and so on, so a lot of people install for a lack of common sense as bakron1 said, a lot of times the security problem is the user.
    12-05-16 01:03 PM
  19. berrydroid's Avatar
    Seeing that I have gotten DNS changer viruses on All my android devices. It's true that Android is riddled with malware, video explanations don't help when browsers are hijacked and you are spammed with redirect pop-ups .

    This happened when I downloaded an Antivirus app from Google play.

    Android BlackBerry
    12-05-16 01:07 PM
  20. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    I would agree for North America, Europe, etc, running true Android. I am not so confident for the million of very low cost phones and devices sold in places that generally operate beyond Google's oversight.
    And that is where most of the real problem is..... as people with non-Google devices are forces to use patches, hacks and 3rd party apps.

    But then all this securing of Android and forcing OEM and Users into an approved Google Play Store device. That has many regulators wondering if this isn't going to create one huge monopoly with very few choices.
    12-05-16 01:11 PM
  21. DenverRalphy's Avatar
    Seeing that I have gotten DNS changer viruses on All my android devices. It's true that Android is riddled with malware, video explanations don't help when browsers are hijacked and you are spammed with redirect pop-ups .

    This happened when I downloaded an Antivirus app from Google play.

    Android BlackBerry
    Nope. If indeed you suffered from DNS changer viruses on "all" of your Android devices, then what's true is that you made it a practice to install, and gave permissions to, software from shady sites (and probably disabled safety measures to do so). You don't receive that kind of an attack by simple drive-by forced/unintentional installs.
    12-05-16 01:46 PM
  22. berrydroid's Avatar
    Nope. If indeed you suffered from DNS changer viruses on "all" of your Android devices, then what's true is that you made it a practice to install, and gave permissions to, software from shady sites (and probably disabled safety measures to do so). You don't receive that kind of an attack by simple drive-by forced/unintentional installs.
    Sorry but it has happened time and time again Downloading ONLY Google play. I have no need for third party sites. I have flagged the apps in question to Google but they are still in the store.

    Android BlackBerry
    12-05-16 01:53 PM
  23. DenverRalphy's Avatar
    Sorry but it has happened time and time again Downloading ONLY Google play. I have no need for third party sites. I have flagged the apps in question to Google but they are still in the store.

    Android BlackBerry
    And yet, there's no record of that happening to anybody else using the Google Play Store exclusively. If your claim were in any way true, let alone 3rd party stores (especially given your "all Android devices claim), there'd be huge news on it. I'm gonna go ahead and label your claim as Shenanigans.
    12-05-16 02:00 PM
  24. berrydroid's Avatar
    And yet, there's no record of that happening to anybody else using the Google Play Store exclusively. If your claim were in any way true, let alone 3rd party stores (especially given your "all Android devices claim), there'd be huge news on it. I'm gonna go ahead and label your claim as Shenanigans.
    I'm not here for shannigans, just to relate MY experience don't need your commentary.

    Android BlackBerry
    12-05-16 02:17 PM
  25. Bla1ze's Avatar
    I'm not here for shannigans, just to relate MY experience don't need your commentary.

    Android BlackBerry
    You seem blissfully unaware of how forums work.
    12-05-16 02:52 PM
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