Vampire Apps

[matt]

I am hesitant to use this tab for online banking.

I have noticed many apps do not exit cleanly but leave code running in ram. They even load after a hard boot. An example is the appstore apk, and after complaining to their tech support, their answer was that there was no way to fully exit the app!
and no plans to do so in the future.

Another program kept putting ads in the notification area after exit.

Using a task killer and start up manager only partly addresses the issue.

What's to stop an app from picking up the contact info from these devices and selling these lists to spammers?

Once invited across the threshold, an app can suck me dry and wooden stakes, garlic, and holy water applied after the fact will only leave my tablet a broken, smelly, sodden mess.

Any ideas?

Currently using; Gemini App Manager, Start Up manager, Avast antivirus (firewall not yet functioning)

[SingleDad]

Titanoum Backup?

Not sure how stable it is for a day to day solution, but the Titanium Backup app and others allow you to freeze apps. This keeps them installed but is supposed to prevent them from running. You can thaw them out and resume use when you
like. Worth a look anyway!

[c,lei]

I am hesitant to use this tab for online banking. I have noticed many apps do not exit cleanly but leave code running in ram. They even load after a hard boot. An example is the appstore apk, and after complaining to their tech support, their answer was that there was no way to fully exit the app! and no plans to do so in the future. Another program kept putting ads in the notification area after exit. Using a task killer and start up manager only partly addresses the issue. What's to stop an app from picking up the contact info from these devices and selling these lists to spammers?

What's to stop an app from picking up the contact info from these devices? *YOU*. Don't place this kind of information on a device you fear may be insecure, whether it be a Cell Phone,Laptop,Desktop Computer, Tablet or whatever. You are responsible for whatever personal information is on a device, and there isn't,never was and never will be any magic software that's going to protect it. It's all up to you.

[matt]

reply

So obvious!
I have been warned...

Any tips on best practices or magic software appreciated.

[petrus]

If you have a rooted phone,or tab try lbe firewall. With it you can revoke apps permissions.

[lukenova]

this is an age old issue.... and its the same issue computers have had since the dawn of computing... no computer will ever be 100% secure no matter how hard you try... and chances are, you will never have any issues with an app stealing your information unless you are using shady (illegal) apps to start with.

[matt]

me again

My paranoia stems from the way apps do not exit completely. Antivirus programs don't usually scan for spyware.
And It's possible that the ram issues are not actual running code but fragmented leftovers.

I guess the threat I'm most worried about would be a key logger.

I haven't found any spy sweepers yet.

Thx for the posts!

[SingleDad]

this is an age old issue.... and its the same issue computers have had since the dawn of computing... no computer will ever be 100% secure no matter how hard you try...

Personally I don't think it's so much an issue involving these apps blatantly capturing banking info etc...but I definitely don't like all of the crap that runs in the background either. Apps that aren't being used are constantly syncing, spying and capturing data.

With any app I'm sure when you install you basically agree to give it permission to do most of what it does anyway. These big corporations and companies know 99% of us don't read the agreement,don't read the privacy policy and don't bother to check what permissions we are granting. The Big G everyone knows and loves sure is pretty well known for harvesting data!

It's definitely not a situation unique to android or mobile devices. As lukenova stated it's been a problem with computers in general from day one. Anyone who knows Windows based pc's or has ever spent some time poking around Windows machines knows there are outbound connections constantly going on that are unknown to the typical user. Just take a look at how many times Microsoft Windows calls home!

In the end the safest thing will be a healthy level of paranoia. While firewalls and software can help it's a drop in the bucket IMHO. If you don't want it stolen, don't enter it into your device. That being said, you are only slightly more protected this way. Your bank, businesses, merchants, etc. all send your precious information on computers that are only moderately less likely to hand your data to the wrong person. In today's day and age, if someone wants your info badly enough they WILL get it. I suppose there's no reason to make it any easier than it has to be though.

[dougg]

In response to adware/trojan stuff, I too get the ads in the notification, but today when I got home from work the battery was almost dead and the 701c was turning off and on. I notice a program I am pretty sure I didnt install (Sound Hound) when I uninstalled the tablet quit turning off and on. Google sucks in the since that they leave openings/backdoors for advertiser like windows does. Im not certain what app is doing it but I am leaning towwards Go Launcher and/or the Play store and/or amazon app store. If those programs can do it for marketing purposes so can hackers so there are valid concerns there

[SingleDad]

In response to adware/trojan stuff, I too get the ads in the notification, but today when I got home from work the battery was almost dead and the 701c was turning off and on. I notice a program I am pretty sure I didnt install (Sound Hound) when I uninstalled the tablet quit turning off and on. Google sucks in the since that they leave openings/backdoors for advertiser like windows does. Im not certain what app is doing it but I am leaning towwards Go Launcher and/or the Play store and/or amazon app store. If those programs can do it for marketing purposes so can hackers so there are valid concerns there

I'm pretty sure Sound Hound is preinstalled bloatware on both Gingerbread and ICS for these tablets. Mine doesn't cause me to see any ads I do know that!

[matt]

I guess adware is part of the price we pay for free and cheap programs. I'm not trying to dry up the revenue streams for app developers. I simply believe that once these programs are exited they should no longer be data harvesting.

Before there were anti virus programs, I spent a lot of time tracking down and eliminating this kind of rogue behavior on PC s.


To paraphrase Arthur C Clarke, a futurist who might be credited with satellite communications and other tech:

Any technology, sufficiently advanced, becomes indistinguishable from magic.

[dougg]

I'm pretty sure Sound Hound is preinstalled bloatware on both Gingerbread and ICS for these tablets. Mine doesn't cause me to see any ads I do know that!

It appears the android market was causing the display to come on out of sleep so I uninstalled and will re-install every couple weeks to check for updates, at least when I uninstalled the market it stopped turning off and on, maybe I will try the other method to get the play store installed. but I was mostly posting hoping somebody would know exactly what was causing the notification spam, I lean toward the go launceher and I suppose it is free app so maybe thats there form of advertising

[matt]

notification bar ads

I don't remember the app that was doing this but fairly sure it was either a battery or wifi app.

You could try a task killer or force close in app manager one at a time til you find it.(not system apps!)

The ads I was getting were job offers and jesus saves -a bit irritating for an agnostic.

I don't know if it would be cool to post all the bad apps here for fear of legal backlash, someone advise.

[SingleDad]

I do know there are some apps that actually allow you to choose whether or not you receive the ad notifications. I'm sure the OP already checked this but thought I'd throw it out there.

Some apps will have ad notifications enabled by default and you can turn them within settings etc. Of course those are the free app developers that play nice. Unfortunately they are probably the exception rather than the rule.

I typically try to scroll through some of the latest ratings for an app in the market before I install it. You can generally get a feel for whether or not an app is going to be an ad whore just by looking through comments there.

Just my .02!

[matt]

rambling on

I'm leaning toward a firewall solution but I don't think that opening a security hole by leaving the tab rooted just to try to close another seems right. Maybe I could install netfilter with root explorer and leave system ro.

I'd like to open a secure browsing session where the browser (not Google) had the only internet access.


Noticed my tab was sluggish again, opened gemini, down to 30MB ram. Just for kicks went to app manager -running reported
150MB free ram and didn't show all the running apps that gemini did. So clicked on each missing app and had the option to
Force close! Bit of discrepancy between the two for running programs and free ram. I lean toward gemini.


Welcome all the advice.
Just because I believe myself to be the center of my perceptual universe could mean I see only one small part of the elephant.

Iwonder if gesture, voice and face recognition will get to a point where tracing a rune or sigil in the air and saying open sesame will get me thru my front door?