The latest update that Google pushed out (RC30) is suppose to fix the browser hijacker security flaw that was originally reported in Android software. Well it appears that Google is going back to the drawing board because our users have been hijacked!
Our users are reporting an attack when they try to visit their Yahoo home page. Instead of going to their homepage it redirects them to the antivirus download page for whatever reason. While we are unsure what is causing this, it appears it just started happening yesterday. There is no threat to any information in the applications other than the web browser.
Google limits the browser so that no hijackers can gain access to personal information in other applications such as BioWallet. Google has not made any comments on this issue thus far. There is development on antivirus applications for Google’s Android and the G1 going on right now. How many of our members are experiencing similar problems? Will anyone be purchasing antivirus software for their G1 now to gain some peace of mind?
So what does this mean exactly? The only valuable information I have on my phone are my passwords to my online accounts with sites like Facebook, Myspace, etc.
I don't have any valuable information so it doesn't really matter right?
It is a gateway problem... epc.tmobile.com.
I spammed my user agent as android on my iPhone using epc.tmobile.com as my gateway, and got the same browser hijacks that G1 users are getting.
It's not Google's fault, it's T-Mobile's.
No, seriously. All you spazzing over Google's f'ing this and that up ought to look at Microsoft's track record on security flaws. And look what we have now, Vista the most paranoid operating system in history.
FWIW, even if it had access to BioWallet data they still would be completly safe due to the use of strong encryption techniques combined with biometric authentication (well, unless you have something that is interesting enough for the NSA
Jose Luis
BioWallet Team.
The only reason why windows needs anti-virus is because all files in the system are accessible to all users (this a generalization, because later versions of windows can act a bit like traditional unix and make every user its little world).
Android is no exception to this unix tradition, and as a matter of fact every process is isolated - not only all the processes of a user, like in traditional unix).
If most users in Linux and Mac OS/X don't need antivirus, why would anyone want antivirus for android?
Just a thought!
PS> Clam AV is the big exception, but this unix antivirus is used mostly for unix user's that have to work in a windows network, or unix mail servers that will deliver email to windows machines.
the lack of response when I called to report it two nights ago. It took me THREE calls just to get someone to take me seriously (and not accidently hang up on me.) And that was partly because I had found others on this forum reporting the same issues. I kept being told no one else had called tmobile with this (like that made my experience any less true.)
Meantime, tmo finally logged a trouble ticket, but have I heard back? NO.
And I finally found a place to escalate with Google online... I had an email yesterday asking if things were better.... but nothing else.
NO one has an explanation or comforting feedback. I'd really like to hear something like - we caught it! or Wont happen again!
I feel pretty darn abandoned. And considering it's not the best in terms of access or email functionality (I don't use gmail)... customer service is one place I would expect them to pick up the slack.
Yup. You could say I'm just a bit disappointed.
The only reason why windows needs anti-virus is because all files in the system are accessible to all users (this a generalization, because later versions of windows can act a bit like traditional unix and make every user its little world).
Android is no exception to this unix tradition, and as a matter of fact every process is isolated - not only all the processes of a user, like in traditional unix).
If most users in Linux and Mac OS/X don't need antivirus, why would anyone want antivirus for android?
Just a thought!
PS> Clam AV is the big exception, but this unix antivirus is used mostly for unix user's that have to work in a windows network, or unix mail servers that will deliver email to windows machines.
99% of cases, the virus is on a computer because someone downloaded it. Be careful, use common sense, and there's a very, very small chance that something will magically appear on your PC.
As commented above: an antivirus wouldn't protect you from this. It's NOT a virus.
As an early adopter, you should be happy of having to deal with glitches...
At least in the case of the Android platform, if you want to do something about it, you can even participate in the process of fixing the Glitches!
There was a big issue over a major DNS vulnerability this summer that would allow hackers to poison a DNS. There were some major companies that DID eventually have their poisoned and sent people to the wrong pages. It looks like this may have happened to TMO and has no bearings on the security of Android. Please at least do some research on this issue before throwing Google and Android under the bus regarding security.
The idea of Android Anti-virus is somewhat ridiculous as Android is built on Linux and inherits the things that make virus infections very hard to almost impossible.
Safari and the Android browser are both built from and open source project called webkit. I'm assuming that somehow webkit is detected by some websites and assumed to be Safari. I have visited a couple of sites and have had that happen. Thats just off the top of my head however...there may be more to it.