Antivirus for Android

fergiesfolly

Apologies if this is the wrong forum.
What, if any, antivirus software are you using for your phones and tablets?
Never put much thought into it before, but today's story about Jeff Bezos' phone got me thinking this is something I should look into.

corks finest

fergiesfolly wrote: »

Apologies if this is the wrong forum.
What, if any, antivirus software are you using for your phones and tablets?
Never put much thought into it before, but today's story about Jeff Bezos' phone got me thinking this is something I should look into.

Avg( free version) for tablet etc,my phone's security is normally fairly good,my mi note 10 is well protected

ED E

99% of you won't be using a rooted phone. Thus your "AV" package cannot operate as root. Thus its friggin useless. Saying AVG is protecting your phone is like saying the tinder app is protecting your gmail app. Ridiculous.


The malformed MP4 would have been interpreted by the OS's library not Whatsapp. Those kind of attacks are reserved for high value targets as once they're used they get patched. With Android those patches are an issue though.

corks finest

ED E wrote: »

99% of you won't be using a rooted phone. Thus your "AV" package cannot operate as root. Thus its friggin useless. Saying AVG is protecting your phone is like saying the tinder app is protecting your gmail app. Ridiculous.


The malformed MP4 would have been interpreted by the OS's library not Whatsapp. Those kind of attacks are reserved for high value targets as once they're used they get patched. With Android those patches are an issue though.

Avg for my old tablet is fine, ancient so I need something,9n my mi note 10 xiaomis own security is great,not rooted,have had several xiaomi phones absolutely no security problems

corsav6

If your phone is not rooted then an anti virus app won't do a thing except take resources needlessly.

DopeTech

I never seen the need for av on android. Especially if you don't root your phone. Just be careful what you are clicking on or downloading and you'll be fine. In reality av for Android can do very little so why bother having it at all

corks finest

corsav6 wrote: »

If your phone is not rooted then an anti virus app won't do a thing except take resources needlessly.

Haven't got an anti virus app on phone, except the one that came with the phone

corks finest

Sir Dosser wrote: »

I never seen the need for av on android. Especially if you don't root your phone. Just be careful what you are clicking on or downloading and you'll be fine. In reality av for Android can do very little so why bother having it at all

No interest in rooting my phone ,did on an old one,but afraid to root this one,heard too many bad stories ,and it's a pain in the hole with a xiaomi phone

DopeTech

corks finest wrote: »

No interest in rooting my phone ,did on an old one,but afraid to root this one,heard too many bad stories ,and it's a pain in the hole with a xiaomi phone

I haven't rooted a phone in years. It's not worth the hassle anymore and many things that you once needed root for are now possible without root.

ED E

corks finest wrote: »

Haven't got an anti virus app on phone, except the one that came with the phone

Your tablet and phone are essentially the same device. Its just as naff on the tablet.

Tazzimus

None, stop going to dodgy websites on your phone :P

I have enough sense to not click or install anything fishy looking, so don't need an AV app taking up resources needlessly

Jeff Bezos was subject to an exploit that would have been bought for a huge amount of money by a government-level outfit.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you are on a Saudi dissident or NSA watch list.

for android your best bet is a google phone or android one phone that get monthly security updates.

don't install apps from something outside the play store also unless you are confident of the source but android warns you of access rights demanded from an app in any case

corks finest

ED E wrote: »

Your tablet and phone are essentially the same device. Its just as naff on the tablet.

Not really,my tablet is without a security update for 3 / years,mi mi note 10 is the bank of Ireland compared to it

corsav6

corks finest wrote: »

Not really,my tablet is without a security update for 3 / years,mi mi note 10 is the bank of Ireland compared to it

That's because your tablet has an older version of Android. My Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 stopped receiving updates a long time ago, but it's an older device so that's expected.

biebiebie

corks finest wrote: »

No interest in rooting my phone ,did on an old one,but afraid to root this one,heard too many bad stories ,and it's a pain in the hole with a xiaomi phone

Have my Redmi Note 5 rooted .
Wasn't that painful at all to be honest :-)
Running miui.eu rom, pixel camera (root not required though) and some tweaks here and there.

But agree.
Rooting isn't as necessary as it used to be back in the day.