Questions answered in the below quotes!
cmstlist said:
What it comes down to is, anyone smart enough to know how the GNex works can beat these sorts of things. You'll catch the dumb criminals but few others. Even if you could theoretically put a lock on CWM, the device can be wiped from the bootloader level and made to work. And chances are, if you have CWM loaded you already have an unlocked bootloader. Which means if you put a password on CWM, the thief could just reflash a clean CWM over top of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
martonikaj said:
Exactly. The only criminal getting caught here is an extremely dumb one. If you're stealing phones you know to go in and uninstall Lookout or factory reset the device... then you wont be able to get the device back either way. Any criminal "smart" enough to use CWM to wipe the phone will use one of the many other ways to make it untraceable.
As someone else said, call the carrier and blacklist the SIM and IMEI.
And if you want your phone to be the most secure, use a PIN lockscreen, fully encrypt the device, and keep it stock with a locked bootloader. And above all... keep your phone in your sight/possession whenever in public. All basic stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
_Dennis_ said:
The anti-theft stuff is not so much anti-theft of the phone as anti-theft of you personal information. Think of it like this, you lose your device, criminal takes your information and uses your stored bank account information to steal your money, your stored address and name to get a new driver's license, and new license to get new credit card to ruin your credit score, along with making $500 on selling your phone.
Or he steals your phone, you remote wipe and blacklist iemi, he makes $200 selling phone for parts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
bwcorvus said:
They can wipe the phone in fastboot also...so this would stop nothing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
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Click to collapse
================================================================================================================
So I got Avast with it's Anti-Theft protection baked into the ROM, but of course if my phone gets lost, it doesn't matter if i remote lock it or wipe it. If the thief is smart enough, they can just reboot into CWM and wipe data/dalvik/cache and flash a new rom onto it and resell the phone as "new". (And trust me, they are in 9/10 cases that smart)
So I was wondering, is there any way to put a password onto CWM? Like a 4 digit pin or similar. I realize it would be hard to do given the limited controls (vol up, down, power), but does the Touch Recovery enable this?
That way it would be a good safeguard for losing your phone as no one without access can wipe the ROM and render your theft-protection useless within seconds..
Thanks
Isn't that what you want them to do? Even if they're not sophisticated enough to wipe it you're just going to wipe it yourself considering the chances of getting it back are slim to none.
Either way, the device gets wiped.
EddieN said:
So I got Avast with it's Anti-Theft protection baked into the ROM, but of course if my phone gets lost, it doesn't matter if i remote lock it or wipe it. If the thief is smart enough, they can just reboot into CWM and wipe data/dalvik/cache and flash a new rom onto it and resell the phone as "new". (And trust me, they are in 9/10 cases that smart)
So I was wondering, is there any way to put a password onto CWM? Like a 4 digit pin or similar. I realize it would be hard to do given the limited controls (vol up, down, power), but does the Touch Recovery enable this?
That way it would be a good safeguard for losing your phone as no one without access can wipe the ROM and render your theft-protection useless within seconds..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, I have wondered this a few times too. I mean, hopefully if you lose your phone then you'll be able to find it before any of this stuff happens...but not necessarily. If the thief turns your phone off/battery pulls then they effectively win! I suppose the benefit of a non-removable battery is that, if you have a lockscreen password, then the thief should find it hard to even power off your device!
I think a lock on CWM should be implemented...but who wants to forget their password to CWM and never be able access their device again? Not me!
---------- Post added at 10:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------
martonikaj said:
Isn't that what you want them to do? Even if they're not sophisticated enough to wipe it you're just going to wipe it yourself considering the chances of getting it back are slim to none.
Either way, the device gets wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true...didn't think of that. Still though...I'd prefer my phone back!
Unlocking the bootloader would wipe the phone, and afaik there is no way to prevent that. Also, it isn't going to stop your phone from getting stolen...
Well sure, if my phone gets stolen it gets stolen. I don't have it anymore. But Avasts Anti-Theft enables you to send SMS commands to lock/wipe the phone, turn on/off GPS, disable any user interaction except from SMS messages from TRUSTED numbers etc. So even if I don't have the phone, BUT I have a password protected CWM, the phone will be useless as they cant flash a new ROM or have access to the OS/internal SD (thanks to disabling USB when the phone is flagged as lost) so it's just a paperweight with no resell value no matter what sim or battery they insert. It will be locked.
As long as they have the phone turned off, sure, I can't access it's location and whatnot. But at the same time they cant do anything with the phone either. I also doubt they'd disassemble the phone and take the time to somehow hardware flash the ROM chip to force a flash.
There have been cases in my country where people have gotten back their ipads/iphones/phones that have their respective "find my phone" if it gets lost/stolen etc.. Manufacturers don't implement functions like this for nothing, and law enforcement is usually helpful in cases like this if the GPS location and IMEI number are provided, as well as proof of ownership (which is displayed on the lock-screen of Anti-Theft as well as the IMEI).
It just seems contradicting having an Anti-Theft option when CWM is a few button presses away from wiping the phone and everything along with it, totally crippling anti-theft software.
Locking the bootloader every time I flash a rom (just in case i go out that one night and get robbed etc.) is a pain, and even if they unlock the bootloader everything is wiped anyway (including Anti-Theft).
The only reasonable solution is to have a password protected CWM. But of course, it's a HUGE risk if you forget your password to it.
and afaik by wiping through SMS, it only wipes the personal data (pictures, sms, anything personal) but keeps the rom intact as not to break the Anti-Theft. It would be really stupid if you remote wiped and the entire rom was wiped? Given that the thief isn't as smart as the regular XDA-crawler they'd need to flash a custom rom for it to even boot after that. But that's another story. Point being that remote wipe doesn't wipe the rom. Only all settings/personal data so a thief cant access private info.
imo if my phone got lost/stolen i'd try to (before it would happen) safeguard myself as much as I could to maybe at least have a small chance of getting it back. You never know.
Completely unnecessary, just call your carrier and report your phone lost/stolen and have them blacklist the IMEI number, done.
In any case, I can't even see a reason for this sort of childishness. If you lost your phone, bad on you, take better care of your things; if you had your phone stolen because you weren't paying attention to where it was, again, bad on you, take better care of your things; if you were threatened and mugged at knife/gunpoint, give the damn phone up and be happy, your life is worth more than any stupid phone, **** happens and then you die.
ZeroBarrier said:
Completely unnecessary, just call your carrier and report your phone lost/stolen and have them blacklist the IMEI number, done.
In any case, I can't even see a reason for this sort of childishness. If you lost your phone, bad on you, take better care of your things; if you had your phone stolen because you weren't paying attention to where it was, again, bad on you, take better care of your things; if you were threatened and mugged at knife/gunpoint, give the damn phone up and be happy, your life is worth more than any stupid phone, **** happens and then you die.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no reason to be rude and condescending. A phone can be lost/stolen no matter how careful you are. Of course your life is incomparable in value to a stupid phone, but that's not what this thread is about so no reason to go OT.
Back OT though, I still believe a password system should be looked in to. What if this wasn't about your phone being stolen, what if someone is just screwing with your phone? Why DO we have passwords? We have them to keep intruders at bay for things we don't want them to have access to. I wouldn't want anyone to be able to access CWM and wipe my phone.
It just seems strange how such a powerful tool can render any lockscreen/pin unlock/pattern unlock useless by just wiping the phone and reflashing a rom (keeping personal data such as pictures etc.) and gaining access to them anyway. It renders all these passwords/lockscreens etc. useless.
EddieN said:
I wouldn't want anyone to be able to access CWM and wipe my phone.
It just seems strange how such a powerful tool can render any lockscreen/pin unlock/pattern unlock useless by just wiping the phone and reflashing a rom (keeping personal data such as pictures etc.) and gaining access to them anyway. It renders all these passwords/lockscreens etc. useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does the stock recovery. Doesn't seem as if anyone is complaining to Samsung or Google asking them for password protection on stock recoveries.
In the end, it's a portable communications device designed to be in your possession at all times, and if it is in your possession at all times, then there isn't any need to worry about a 3rd party wiping your phone randomly.
I am also hoping for password on the recovery.
What it comes down to is, anyone smart enough to know how the GNex works can beat these sorts of things. You'll catch the dumb criminals but few others. Even if you could theoretically put a lock on CWM, the device can be wiped from the bootloader level and made to work. And chances are, if you have CWM loaded you already have an unlocked bootloader. Which means if you put a password on CWM, the thief could just reflash a clean CWM over top of it.
cmstlist said:
What it comes down to is, anyone smart enough to know how the GNex works can beat these sorts of things. You'll catch the dumb criminals but few others. Even if you could theoretically put a lock on CWM, the device can be wiped from the bootloader level and made to work. And chances are, if you have CWM loaded you already have an unlocked bootloader. Which means if you put a password on CWM, the thief could just reflash a clean CWM over top of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. The only criminal getting caught here is an extremely dumb one. If you're stealing phones you know to go in and uninstall Lookout or factory reset the device... then you wont be able to get the device back either way. Any criminal "smart" enough to use CWM to wipe the phone will use one of the many other ways to make it untraceable.
As someone else said, call the carrier and blacklist the SIM and IMEI.
And if you want your phone to be the most secure, use a PIN lockscreen, fully encrypt the device, and keep it stock with a locked bootloader. And above all... keep your phone in your sight/possession whenever in public. All basic stuff.
EddieN said:
So I got Avast with it's Anti-Theft protection baked into the ROM, but of course if my phone gets lost, it doesn't matter if i remote lock it or wipe it. If the thief is smart enough, they can just reboot into CWM and wipe data/dalvik/cache and flash a new rom onto it and resell the phone as "new". (And trust me, they are in 9/10 cases that smart)
So I was wondering, is there any way to put a password onto CWM? Like a 4 digit pin or similar. I realize it would be hard to do given the limited controls (vol up, down, power), but does the Touch Recovery enable this?
That way it would be a good safeguard for losing your phone as no one without access can wipe the ROM and render your theft-protection useless within seconds..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The anti-theft stuff is not so much anti-theft of the phone as anti-theft of you personal information. Think of it like this, you lose your device, criminal takes your information and uses your stored bank account information to steal your money, your stored address and name to get a new driver's license, and new license to get new credit card to ruin your credit score, along with making $500 on selling your phone.
Or he steals your phone, you remote wipe and blacklist iemi, he makes $200 selling phone for parts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
They can wipe the phone in fastboot also...so this would stop nothing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
bwcorvus said:
They can wipe the phone in fastboot also...so this would stop nothing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
You can wipe (or obtain all the data stored into io) a galaxy nexus directly from the bootloader... Even before loading the recovery...
If I was in you i would care more about stolen data/photos and so on... (ics support full system encryption but clockwork mod does not iirc)
sooooo?
So back to the original question Any1 no of a hack that password protects recovery? Its a great idea and for those that don't think so for whatever reason wouldn't have to use it .
drawde40599 said:
So back to the original question Any1 no of a hack that password protects recovery? Its a great idea and for those that don't think so for whatever reason wouldn't have to use it .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you not read the thread? Its a waste of time to do this...
I guess it's a conundrum for us hacky types - unlocked bootloader lets us do all sorts of stuff, and gives us an escape hatch from unstable ROMs without losing our data. But it also lets anyone else get full access.
Now what would be nice is if the unlocked bootloader could be configured with a password. So it's effectively locked for everyone else unless they wipe.
cmstlist said:
I guess it's a conundrum for us hacky types - unlocked bootloader lets us do all sorts of stuff, and gives us an escape hatch from unstable ROMs without losing our data. But it also lets anyone else get full access.
Now what would be nice is if the unlocked bootloader could be configured with a password. So it's effectively locked for everyone else unless they wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if you have a locked bootloader, all they have to do is type Fastboot oem unlock, and your data is wiped. With the phone we have, there is NOTHING you can do to stop someone from wiping it. If we could put a password before that, this would be the only safeguard (like a bios lock on a computer).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
bwcorvus said:
Even if you have a locked bootloader, all they have to do is type Fastboot oem unlock, and your data is wiped. With the phone we have, there is NOTHING you can do to stop someone from wiping it. If we could put a password before that, this would be the only safeguard (like a bios lock on a computer).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, there's the separate questions of data integrity vs. tracking software integrity.
Most Androids, with stock recovery, are capable of being wiped too without booting into the OS at all.
cmstlist said:
What it comes down to is, anyone smart enough to know how the GNex works can beat these sorts of things. You'll catch the dumb criminals but few others. Even if you could theoretically put a lock on CWM, the device can be wiped from the bootloader level and made to work. And chances are, if you have CWM loaded you already have an unlocked bootloader. Which means if you put a password on CWM, the thief could just reflash a clean CWM over top of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
martonikaj said:
Exactly. The only criminal getting caught here is an extremely dumb one. If you're stealing phones you know to go in and uninstall Lookout or factory reset the device... then you wont be able to get the device back either way. Any criminal "smart" enough to use CWM to wipe the phone will use one of the many other ways to make it untraceable.
As someone else said, call the carrier and blacklist the SIM and IMEI.
And if you want your phone to be the most secure, use a PIN lockscreen, fully encrypt the device, and keep it stock with a locked bootloader. And above all... keep your phone in your sight/possession whenever in public. All basic stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
_Dennis_ said:
The anti-theft stuff is not so much anti-theft of the phone as anti-theft of you personal information. Think of it like this, you lose your device, criminal takes your information and uses your stored bank account information to steal your money, your stored address and name to get a new driver's license, and new license to get new credit card to ruin your credit score, along with making $500 on selling your phone.
Or he steals your phone, you remote wipe and blacklist iemi, he makes $200 selling phone for parts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bwcorvus said:
They can wipe the phone in fastboot also...so this would stop nothing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks for the great insight then! I didn't know fully that you could, still, even with a hypothesized passworded CWM, gain access and flash a new recovery before even getting into recovery (i haven't stumbled upon a situation like this yet)
So really there is no way to fully PROTECT the device with a password per se, unless you, like someone said, keep it fully stock with the bootloader locked. That way the device will be wiped anyway. Or have some kind of a BIOS-lock.
The thread was made to merely speculate if a password for CWM was feasible, and if it was, if it would do any good. Since we have come to the conclusion that it is not (any good at least), the best thing to do is to simply encrypt the phone, put a lockscreen pin/pattern or something like it and take care of the phone (of course). If it gets stolen, it does. Call the carrier and flag the IMEI. I know that already, but it would be a nice consolidation to somehow have some hope of getting the device back.
Needless to say you probably never will. So be careful guys!
Thanks for the thread and the knowledgeable inputs, there were apparently a few more peeps wondering about the same thing as I so I hope it helped them
Hello guys I would like to ask if there is any way to "disable" recovery flashing and wipe as well as the download mode in my new Note II. The reason is that I have installed cerberus and i would like to stop the thief from flashing another rom and loose protection. If there is not any way to disable it please tell me a way that will be very difficult to do so. Thanks in advance.
Nope ... just like Apple ... even with passcode lock someone can still restore stock using DFU mode(Apple) and Download mode(Samsung)
The passcode locks are to prevent your data at best not the phone
If i format the recovery partition? Or destroy some recovery files?
dont try to be foolish..dont meddle without proof............why are you so sure that your phone will get stolen?
download mode is 2 steps after phone boots.
1st - power is initialized and the super base of the phone calls boot loader
2nd- boot loader loads the download mode.
so it's absolute base.
if you disable download mode, you won't be able to root/unroot/your company won't be able to give you any service etc.
don't be assured that your phone will be lost.
rather setup mobile tracker, which may still be deleted if the thief is super intelligent to factory reset it.
if you are very freaking insane about this, embed the app into system. which may still be deleted.
:/
UtkarshGupta said:
download mode is 2 steps after phone boots.
1st - power is initialized and the super base of the phone calls boot loader
2nd- boot loader loads the download mode.
so it's absolute base.
if you disable download mode, you won't be able to root/unroot/your company won't be able to give you any service etc.
don't be assured that your phone will be lost.
rather setup mobile tracker, which may still be deleted if the thief is super intelligent to factory reset it.
if you are very freaking insane about this, embed the app into system. which may still be deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am almost sure that my phone will be stolen cause i am 16 years old and 2 of my friends' phones got stolen as well as my bike You will say "Why did you bought suck an expensive phone?". The answer is that i cannot live without high technology, as soon as there is a new exciting thing in the market i wanna buy it. Anyway, I hope that I will be lucky and if my phone get stolen, the thief will not be expert. I have cerberus, the hidden version.:good:
If that is the case you should get pink phones and insurance. Yeah it may suck having a pink phone and getting made fun of but less likely to be desirable. And then of course insurance to mitigate cost of replacements.
Sent from my GT-N7100
If you are American buy a gun and have it with you. If someone comes to rob you, just shoot the bastard.
Anyway. You can setup Cerberus to take photos with the front cam also.
Abd just do not sgow off with phone in hand in bad neighbourhoods
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Go for "where's my droid" application
Inviato dal mio GT-N7100 con Tapatalk 2
In security settings, you can crypt your device and your external SD card, if your phone is stolen, no one can steal your data.
You have also a SamsungDive account to track and make your device ring, you need wifi or 3g activated in order for this function to work.
I agree that a password protected recovery is a very good idea.
Too bad that this thread doesn't generate more interest. All these "security" apps(find my droid/cerberus etc..) are basically useless as everybody who steals phones will wipe them right away. Having a password recovery and download mode would be the ultimate protection and could even discourage theft from attempting to steal.
Some security apps are stored in /system and survive a wipe (but not an ODIN flash).
Why no more interest in "absolute protection" :
- thieves won't give you back your phone even if it is unuseable, and they can still sell it for parts
- mess up, forget the password => brick
- whatever your local repair shop can do to restore your phone, bad guys can do it too
If you are so sure your phone will get stolen, get insurance.
If your device gets stolen it sure would be nice to have recovery password protected to stop a quick factory reset or rom flash.
Has anyone seen this done?
This could help preserve security software for as long as possible to assist in locating the phone
ive been looking for this hopefully someone has a answer
Having the Power Off password protected could also buy some time if the back cover was glued on
Guys, if you get the paid version of where's my droid there's an option to the app to run as administrator, you have access to more options on the paid app. One of them is run in stealth mode, it becomes a system app, it survives flashing back to stock with Odin. You can use a pin code to be able to use the app, delete the app or make any changes in the settings on the app. There's an option to have the app send you an e mail if your SIM card is ever removed or changed, will sound an alarm even if it's on silent from any pc or cellphone, remotely wipe and lock the device. Great app for security against anyone having access to your personal information and locating it if lost or stolen, imo.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
I'm using cerberus but it didnt survive a dirty flash from jediX7.2 -----jediX8. This was with cerberus_disguised-ICS.zip rooted running in admin mode.
But none of this software will work if they pop the sim or batt out. Hence the glued on cover. But the power off/reboot would need to be password protected.
I can buy a new back cover for $10 after I break it to take it off. A lot more for a new phone.
Reason I bring this up, just yesterday my bud sat on a couch in a mall. Phone fell out there. Realized it 2min later and called his number but it was off already
Rhiannon224 said:
Guys, if you get the paid version of where's my droid there's an option to the app to run as administrator, you have access to more options on the paid app. One of them is run in stealth mode, it becomes a system app, it survives flashing back to stock with Odin. You can use a pin code to be able to use the app, delete the app or make any changes in the settings on the app. There's an option to have the app send you an e mail if your SIM card is ever removed or changed, will sound an alarm even if it's on silent from any pc or cellphone, remotely wipe and lock the device. Great app for security against anyone having access to your personal information and locating it if lost or stolen, imo.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How pray tell does it survive flash to stock via Odin? If it stores itself on /system and /system is erased and reflashed, how does it get back?
Sent from my SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2
Hi,
Last week my friend was robbed..and that bugger had the guts to snatch his Note 2 from his hand and run away in a moving bus... he had ADM & Kaspersky Security installed. this is how it happened, the incident took place at 9:27 AM he called me immediately and while i logged in on the site and fire the lock and remote wipe commands it was 9:46 AM.. very obviously the bugger had removed the sim immediately so non of the commands were executed and it is highly possible that he will sell it to some local shop who will first flash the mobile before using it..apart from filing a complaint at police station and putting the IMEI number under surveillance which I know is not happening any time soon.
My question is : Is their a way where we can restrict Flashing the mobile with a password..and to unlock the flashing security the mobile needs to be switched on and connected to a network.. this will at least give us some time for remote wipe and location tracking of that thief/ or otherwise at least he will not be able to use the hardware at all.
Thanks in advance
There's no way to locate your phone if its not connected to network and there's no sim card installed. If theif is smart enough, he will first switch it off and take out the sim card. If he's dumb, he will start calling( from your sim with internet connected) his friends that he stole a new phone..lol
And you know, its android. You can reset very easily and flash custom rom in recovery.
This is how I lost my GNote1 while travelling. It bumped out of pocket and fell somewhere. Then I called it from my friends phone and it was switched off. Tried locating but it couldn't locate...
Sent from my JellyKatted Note2
Exactly Manny thats what i am saying...but can we have a way to stop that phone getting flashed ? I mean can we have a recovery mode password or something that way he won't be able to flash any rom on it...if i am not able to use it...that losser has no right to use it as well rght?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
adityaomverma said:
Exactly Manny thats what i am saying...but can we have a way to stop that phone getting flashed ? I mean can we have a recovery mode password or something that way he won't be able to flash any rom on it...if i am not able to use it...that losser has no right to use it as well rght?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
No way..recovery can't be password protected. If password protection was possible, you should already had it password protected. Since you don't have, its very easy to flash any rom.
Sent from my JellyKatted Note2
mannyvinny said:
There's no way to locate your phone if its not connected to network and there's no sim card installed. If theif is smart enough, he will first switch it off and take out the sim card. If he's dumb, he will start calling( from your sim with internet connected) his friends that he stole a new phone..lol
And you know, its android. You can reset very easily and flash custom rom in recovery.
This is how I lost my GNote1 while travelling. It bumped out of pocket and fell somewhere. Then I called it from my friends phone and it was switched off. Tried locating but it couldn't locate...
Sent from my JellyKatted Note2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly how i lost my Note 1 too.. in a metro
Sadly not I'm afraid- can't protect a recovery in any way as far as I'm aware.
marty141 said:
Sadly not I'm afraid- can't protect a recovery in any way as far as I'm aware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And even if you could, anybody could just flash a new recovery through Odin.