New Market Notification...Virus?

[skyjjc]

Received a big green + notification today claimng it was the new market. Opened the notification and it wanted my phone number and to enter a pin it provided.....clearly a virus attack to me.

Anybody know where these unwanted notification (some apparently virus attacks) are coming from or how to find out. I do have a free antivirus scanner installed but it didn't let out a peep.

Anyway be careful out there.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Received a big green + notification today claimng it was the new market. Opened the notification and it wanted my phone number and to enter a pin it provided.....clearly a virus attack to me.

Anybody know where these unwanted notification (some apparently virus attacks) are coming from or how to find out. I do have a free antivirus scanner installed but it didn't let out a peep.

Anyway be careful out there.

Market app. updated when I opened it earlier to update some apps, no prompting. Lookout scanned it as safe, though. I'm not to worried about it, even though Lookout is rather pointless as an overall antivirus tool, IMO.

 

[skyjjc]

Not talking about the currently installed market aplp it works fine. Talking about a notification that claims to be the new market.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Not talking about the currently installed market aplp it works fine. Talking about a notification that claims to be the new market.

OP, makes better sense, saw they rolled out an OTA'd a market update w/in the past couple of days. Thought you were referring to that. That sounds more like a trojan method than a virus. I read they did discover a new trojan variant, hidden in a few fake apps in the market last week. One of them hit 14,000 before being discovered and pulled. Where were you when it popped up?

As far as tracking a source, I think about the only thing you could do is run an IP trace on it. I always used McAfee to ping IPs that tried to get past my firewall on my pc. However, I don't think anything like that is even available on any mobile platform, yet. I think the market does have an app that will ping an IP. I just don't recall if it's a commandable tool, or suited for non rooted use, though.

 

[MacDiver]

What kind of firewall are you using? What is a good firewall, if any, for use with McAfee Moble Security?

Tanks

 

[humpagardengnome]

What kind of firewall are you using? What is a good firewall, if any, for use with McAfee Moble Security?

I'm not running one at the moment but I have used one on mobile with a previous device.I believe it was called Rodrigo Firewall, which I picked up from the GPstore. There are other firewalls that can be used on phones running the Android OS. Unfortunately, you need to unlock the bootloader & root or unlock the boot & attain S-off in order to install and use. It cannot be done if you remain stock. However, there really isn't a grave need for a firewall on your phone b/c the boot is locked and the only real threatening way you will encounter malware is in app markets, Mainly via sideloaded 3rd party apps from non Google affiliated markets on the web.

Just run a internet security suite like Lookout or MacAfee and pay attention to the permissions apps request to use in order to run on your phone. Also, use common sense, when browsing the interwebz. Viewing free content has an uncanny risk of hiding shady content, if you know what I'm referring to. Malicious exploits can't enter the Linux coding unless you allow it entry via apps and plug ins. You'll be alright running without one in place.

 

[MrSmith317]

What kind of firewall are you using? What is a good firewall, if any, for use with McAfee Moble Security?

Tanks

No such thing. If you're running a firewall on your phone, somebody's doing something wrong.

 

[humpagardengnome]

No such thing. If you're running a firewall on your phone, somebody's doing something wrong.

I had Droid Wall on a hand me down Nexus S from my brother which is why I had it on a phone. Do you say this b/c It functions more as a Linux management tool than firewall protection. What makes you say that an app like Droid Wall doesn't qualify as a Linux firewall?

 

[MrSmith317]

I had Droid Wall on a hand me down Nexus S from my brother which is why I had it on a phone. Do you say this b/c It functions more as a Linux management tool than firewall protection. What makes you say that an app like Droid Wall doesn't qualify as a Linux firewall?

I said what I said because A) Linux doesn't need a personal firewall. 2) Windows doesn't need a personal firewall. Z) If you're that worried about malware/virii, don't browse the internet or install anything...ever.

99.9% Of apps from the Market are safe. Yes some use air-push or the like but they're not malicious. They're trade off's for using free apps. If you don't like em, pay for the app(or don't use it). As far as I know there are no driveby downloads for Android, and the only way to contract any amount of malware on your phone is to intentionally install it. At that point the personal firewall isn't going to do any more good than learning how to uninstall an app would.

Oh and most of the "firewall" apps require root. Which makes your phone way more vulnerable than running unrooted...