Do I need antivirus/anti malware software for my S8?

[Stephen Pedersen1]

My phone came with Lookout Premium but it's a resource hog. The VPN it set up eats 10% of my batter an hour. It comes free when I bought the phone from TMobile. Is it safe to just deactivate it completely? Is Android that unsafe that i need something like Lookout?

I came from a Microsoft Lumia phone where i didn't need to ever worry about anything like that. I never had a problem with malware or viruses, and neither do iPhone users really. I'm surprised by this software being forced upon me, i can't even delete it if i wanted to. So can i just deactivate it or is Android really that bad that it can't protect itself?

 

[Tim1954]

It depends largely on your habits. If you frequent dodgy sites and then click on things you shouldn't then you will get malware.
Generally, if you don't open attachments from unknown sources, don't click on links if you are not certain of the source etc you should be fine. Avoid those WiFi hotspots in dodgy places, they are not secure and could have lurkers waiting to break into your device..
Android sandboxes stuff and you actually have to agree several times to download /open things against the warnings you get in order to get infected.
When those full screen popups come warning you how your phone will die if you don't click there, it's best just to avoid touching any part of the popup (including close) and just back out of the screen using home button... Android protects itself, is the unwise user that causes problems..

 

[anon(10360853)]

I find its always good to have protection on your device, if the websites you usually visit are trusted sources you should be fine. But sometimes on the odd occasion you might accidentally press on something and the trouble can start from there. If you do want protection, MalwareBytes is good.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Adware can install malware as well. Spear phishing is still effective. Leaks have made malware more powerful. IoT will likely always be the XP of insecurity.

Drive by installs may not require user action. Adware can run in the background so you can't close a web page.

Clear cache and cache partition. Force quit or kill the process zombie.

Chrome is addressing adware but Samsung Internet plus extensions is decent. If I could turn off JavaScript and use one browser foot private surfing.

A 2016 vulnerabilities came back. The RAT.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/androrat-new-android-malware-strain-can-hijack-older-phones/

 

[B. Diddy]

This is my usual spiel about malware risk (and apologies for repeating anything said previously):

For the most part, it's still quite difficult to get an actual virus on your phone, because malware usually requires you to manually accept the installation (which is why they try to fool you into thinking you're installing something legitimate). Use common sense:

1. Avoid shady websites that deal with things like porn, gambling, and "free" (aka pirated) apps/music/movies.

2. Never ever tap on a link that appears in a popup while browsing, especially if they're warning you that your phone is infected -- they're just trying to scare you into installing some bogus "antivirus" app that is probably malicious itself.

3. Only install apps from well-established app sources like Google Play Store or Amazon Appstore. Read a bunch of app reviews before installing an app to look for any complaints about adware or suspected malware.

4. Turn on Google Play Protect features in Settings>Google>Security. This allows Google to periodically scan your phone's apps to look for malware.

5. Turn off "Unknown Sources" in Settings>Security. This prevents any app that wasn't obtained from Google Play Store from being installed (which could include malicious apps that are inadvertently downloaded).