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Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

blog.malwarebytes.com

21–30 of 44 posts

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#21
post #2

it's 2021. updating apps should not be something every developer has to write themselves. it should be part of the operating system, separate from the app stores...

It is, but then you come to places like HN and everyone is bashing against App Stores.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#22
post #18

I knew nox has been adware for a while and I'm surprised it's still being used. Literally go to r/noxappplayer and you'll see most of the top posts are about it being malware. If anyone's need a good android emulator, genymotion is probably the best and it's free for personal uses https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/

What does "literally" mean here?

It is a way to catch trolls.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the biggest advantages of linux.

Security by obscurity? https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/malware-found... Imagine how many more attacks there would be if Linux was much more popular.

The AUR isn't officially supported by Arch, it's just a collection of community scripts. In fact "AUR helpers" aren't present in Arch repos.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the biggest advantages of linux.

Security by obscurity? https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/malware-found... Imagine how many more attacks there would be if Linux was much more popular.

It is only used in ~80% of some of the most valuable targets on the internet, the servers, and it is only by far the most used operating system with more than 50% compared to the huge target that is the ~15% that is Windows. Security by obscurity is more fitting for Windows than Linux. Imagine how many more attacks there would be if Windows was much more popular. Windows in on par with iOS. Stop being a troll.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_syste...

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#25

Doesn't Google give out a free Android emulator?

It is incredibly nonperformant. Even with HAXM. Developers use real devices. This is marketed for people who want to run android games on their PC.

I recently tested Android Emulator [1] on Apple M1 computer and it is finally a performant emulator from Google. I can finally use android emulator on my computer for development.

[1] https://github.com/google/android-emulator-m1-preview

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#26
post #2

it's 2021. updating apps should not be something every developer has to write themselves. it should be part of the operating system, separate from the app stores...

This is one of the biggest advantages of linux.

The repos are basically an App Store. The only advantage is you can add multiple repo sources.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#27
post #2

it's 2021. updating apps should not be something every developer has to write themselves. it should be part of the operating system, separate from the app stores...

The problem lies in Unix/Windows style app packaging, or lack thereof in Unix as originally conceived. /etc, /usr, and so on.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#28

Doesn't Google give out a free Android emulator?

It is incredibly nonperformant. Even with HAXM. Developers use real devices. This is marketed for people who want to run android games on their PC.

Not to mention testing a mobile app with a mouse is... well, not the intended use case, to say the least.

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#29

Doesn't Google give out a free Android emulator?

It is incredibly nonperformant. Even with HAXM. Developers use real devices. This is marketed for people who want to run android games on their PC.

Android app dev since 10 years here - performance is absolutely fine. I have it running all the time. Granted, performance was abysmal before the accelerated Intel images, but that was many years ago.

Devs complaining about Android emulator performance usually have problems with their setup, common culprits: Not enough ram (it is a VM in the end), slow machine (eg. MacOS is bad for Android dev), broken VM acceleration (AMD was a problem for a while IIRC).

Re: Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

#30
post #2

it's 2021. updating apps should not be something every developer has to write themselves. it should be part of the operating system, separate from the app stores...

A quick search showed compromised packages in arch aur repos: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/malware-found... You only change the focal point, but a centralised package manager is good for reasons other than security. Sure, a central tool will keep your whole system updated and improve security overall, but it won't prevent supply-chain attacks from happening. Reading mailing lists and being careful w…

I trust packages that comes from official repositories.

> Warning: AUR packages are user produced content. These PKGBUILDs are completely unofficial and have not been thoroughly vetted. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.

In other words AUR is not much safer than `curl to | sh`.

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