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Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

phys.org

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Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#101

Post by jorvi »

thanatos_dem wrote: post #17
jimmaswell wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

better than ios updates making the phone unusable. happened to me on old ipod touch models, not even the battery thing.

> Not even the battery thing. That was an attempt at graceful degradation that wasn’t communicated well. The general belief was that having a phone that runs a bit more slowly, but consistently used it’s battery as the battery life naturally degrades is better than a phone suddenly dying with 40% battery remaining if the peak power draw exceeds what a several year old lithium ion battery can produce. I much prefer th…

It would have been graceful if the phone gave a pop-up on every boot with 'Your iPhone has a worn-out battery. Have it serviced at your nearest Apple retailer'. Apple was fully aware that people with slowed down phones would buy a newer model iPhone. And besides the free battery replacement for the old model they gave zero recompense if you bought a new phone because your old phone was performing suboptimally.

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#102

Post by jorvi »

deepsun wrote: post #4

What ad blocking for Android to would recommend?

If you don't have root: set your DNS server to AdGuard's. It will block most ads and they have a strict no-logging policy. Otherwise you need to use a local VPN, but that will prevent you from protecting your privacy with an actual VPN.

If you're rooted, just use AdAway.

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#103

Post by [deleted] »

graeme wrote: post #66
bogwog wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it wasn't done maliciously. Depends on how you look at it. One alternative solution to the old battery problem would be to send it to a repair shop to install a new battery. But Apple doesn't want people to have the right to repair their own devices, so that's not even seen as an option. Throttling to extend battery life is a convenient explanation that both solves the problem and avoids hurting their extremely pro…

You can replace an apple battery for $69. It was $29 for a while after the ios 11 battery troubles. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/09/13/a...

[deleted]

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#104

Post by enraged_camel »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #98
cstejerean wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I love about Apple. They gave the carriers a big middle finger when it comes to the usual bullshit of bloatware, sticking their logos on things or getting in the middle of updates. That’s because they cared about the end user experience. Google was happy to just grab market share at the expense of the users by allowing carriers to continue with their usual shenanigans. For this reason Apple will have my…

> That’s because they cared about the end user experience. I'm sure 100% of any revenue going to Apple and not shared with anyone had nothing to do with that.

It may have, but I doubt it was the primary motivation. Steve Jobs famously cared a lot about user experience, security and reliability. Remember that Apple under his leadership took a firm stance and loudly and publicly refused to allow Flash on its devices, despite the fact that many websites back then relied on Flash.

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#105

Post by Santosh83 »

pmlnr wrote: post #37
ajross wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which device? That doesn't sound right. We're in a more or less identical situation, with Galaxy Tab S2's for the kids that we bought three years ago. And indeed, they're running comparatively ancient Android 7.0 images and will never see a version bump again. They do, however, continue to see security updates. And in particular they've been patched against the vulnerability in the linked article. I'd be very surpris…

> comparatively ancient Android 7.0 7.0 is ancient? 5.1, or rather 4.4 is ancient.

The Android ver on my phone is 4.1. Still runs just fine, but then again all I use it for are calls/SMS, so there's little scope to be exploited.

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#106

Post by jammygit »

cure wrote: post #96
jammygit wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question: my brother just got a used pixel 1 phone. Will it stop getting security updates soon/already?

Yes, looks like October 2019 is the end: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705?hl=en#pixel_...

What should he do if he finds out about a vulnerability then? Does he need a new phone?

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#107

Post by _underfl0w_ »

jammygit wrote: post #70
komali2 wrote: post #2

> Google already fixed at least one of the Android exploits used by "Agent Smith," nicknamed Janus, in 2017 but the fix hasn't made its way onto every Android phone. It's a potent reminder that millions of phones around the world are being used without the latest security measures. Because Samsung (or similar) or even more weirdly, Sprint (or similar) just doesn't fucking update our Android versions for months, or ev…

Question: my brother just got a used pixel 1 phone. Will it stop getting security updates soon/already?

FWIW, LineageOS has official nightlies for that phone now (typing this from one of those builds now, actually)

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#109

Post by GeekyBear »

komali2 wrote: post #2

> Google already fixed at least one of the Android exploits used by "Agent Smith," nicknamed Janus, in 2017 but the fix hasn't made its way onto every Android phone. It's a potent reminder that millions of phones around the world are being used without the latest security measures. Because Samsung (or similar) or even more weirdly, Sprint (or similar) just doesn't fucking update our Android versions for months, or ev…

From the start, Google cared enough about device makers potentially shipping a device running a fork of Android that they forbade doing so in their contracts with device makers.

When it came to making sure consumers got timely software updates, Google sided with the device makers and carriers.

Device makers wanted you to buy new hardware every couple of years, and carriers wanted to lock you into an additional two year contract.

Google could have contractually required device makers and carriers to support end user devices after the sale, it just wasn't something they cared enough about.

Re: Malicious apps infect 25M Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware

#110

Post by rightbyte »

scarface74 wrote: post #88
dan-0 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be getting a lot of attention, so as an Android Engineer with some security and framework experience let me try to explain. This is a side effect of Android's initial approach to it's open nature. Android allows a manufacturer to modify its framework for their own use case. Then the manufacturer can allow a specific carrier to input their own system applications and firmware on to the devices well (your…

Sounds like an excuse for poor engineering on the part of Android. Microsoft also sells Windows to multiple OEMs and has done so for decades. OEMs also are free to add bloatware as well as the retailers (ie Best Buy adds its own bloat), but Microsoft doesn’t have this problem.

Ye. Patching system libs should be just pulling those as long as they are backwards compatible. Maybe some key parts that the OEMs fiddle with are not behind abstractions properly.
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