Hello guys, I have Avast Anti-Theft installed and working in my rooted Arc-S phone using Android 4.0.4 Build number 4.1.B.0.431 with locked bootloader.
When I send the remote command LOCATE from the avast web, my phone just prompts with:
"Will collect anonymous data while using GPS. Data transmission charges may apply"
And, if the thief is clever enough, he/she will press NO.
Any workaround for this?
Thanks
This idiotic message appears to me whenever i'm driving and need GPS to run. I hope there is a way to take it off.
Imagen 1 year of using the phone and it will keep asking the same dump question.
It's standard on android over 2.2. Probably intended as a security feature.
If you're rooted, you can install secure settings and the helper thing in that which can enable GPS without that message.
Settings - Security - Device Administrators
Make sure your anti-theft app has Administrator rights ticked there.
While unlocking the bootloader on a Galaxy Nexus unleashes the full potential of the bootloader, it also poses a security risk. Even with your lockscreen protected with a pattern/PIN/password, not having flashed a custom recovery, having an anti-theft app installed (maybe even converted/installed as a system app) your phone's data is easily accessible for a knowledgeable thief.
All the thief needs to do is reboot into the bootloader and boot or flash a custom recovery such as ClockWorkMod or TWRP. It's then possible to boot into recovery and use ADB commands to gain access to the phone's data on the internal memory (unless you have it encrypted) and copy/remove files at will.
Granted, the risk seems low. The thief would not only require knowledge of fastboot, he would have to turn off the phone before you have issued a wipe command using an anti-theft app. You could of course flash back the stock recovery & relock the bootloader after being done with flashing stuff, but that would require you to unlock it again if needed which will erase your userdata.
There are two ways to tackle this security risk AND retain unlocked bootloader functionality without losing userdata.
1) Encrypt your phone using Android's built-in encryption feature
Advantages:
- you can leave your bootloader unlocked & leave a custom recovery installed without risk of exposing your data.
Disadvantages:
- unless the custom recovery can decrypt your phone, you cannot use all of its features.
- when decryption fails, you cannot access your phone and need to do a factory reset from recovery. Users have reported not being able to decrypt after applying OTA updates.
- the encryption process is irreversible. The only way to return to an unencrypted phone is to perform a factory data reset which erases all your data.
2) Unlock & relock the bootloader from Android OS
Prerequisites:
- root access
- an app that can unlock/relock the bootloader at will such as BootUnlocker
Steps
Root your device using one of the many guides out there (recommended guide). Install BootUnlocker. Reflash stock recovery and lock the bootloader. Whenever you need an unlocked bootloader again, simply use Bootlocker to unlock it (this won't wipe userdata). When done, relock.
Advantages:
- doesn't require encryption (for those who do not wish to use it).
Disadvantages:
- relies on third-party apps.
- method will not work if you lose root access for whatever reason.
- method will not work when you cannot boot into Android for whatever reason.
USB debugging
Strictly not related to the bootloader, but for maximum security disable USB debugging when not required. Having it enabled allows the execution of ADB commands even if the lockscreen is still locked. Myself, I use Tasker in combination with Secure Settings to automatically enable USB debugging when my device is connected to my home WiFi access point but disabled if not connected.
The following video demonstrates what a knowledgeable thief can do with your phone when you have USB debugging enabled by default: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah7DWawLax8&t=7m0s
More info: recently, an exploit has been discovered that will enable gaining root without going through the 'traditional' process of unlocking the bootloader & flashing a custom recovery in order to flash Superuser or SuperSU packages. See this post for a guide.
Play store devices
Devices bought directly from Google's Play Store apparently do NOT wipe userdata after fastboot oem unlock. So for these devices, method number 2 does not add any security. For more info, read this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1650830
Very well written!!
One thing you may want to tie in to your explanation is the effect of having USB Debugging enabled - it's easy to gain root (and subsequently unlock your bootloader) with it enabled, even with a locked bootloader.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Added some information regarding USB debugging. Thanks for the tip efrant.
Good read:good:
Do you have to be on stock rom to lock the bootloader ?
Oscuras said:
Do you have to be on stock rom to lock the bootloader ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Thanks for this :good:
Trying to wrap my head around this with regards to anti theft protection etc.
Currently have an unlocked bootloader, custom rom, and root. If I have something like Cerberus or Avast running (both claim to work as system apps so will not be deleted via hard reset), have debugging unchecked and a pin lock at screen on - if I lock bootloader now, how secure am I to data theft?
Presumably, with debug disabled, fastboot from pc command prompt to unlock bootloader will not work? Can ODIN be used to flash a new ROM and if so my system apps (and thus the security apps) will be wiped, rendering the whole thing useless?
Thanks
Guiding.God said:
Thanks for this :good:
Trying to wrap my head around this with regards to anti theft protection etc.
Currently have an unlocked bootloader, custom rom, and root. If I have something like Cerberus or Avast running (both claim to work as system apps so will not be deleted via hard reset), have debugging unchecked and a pin lock at screen on - if I lock bootloader now, how secure am I to data theft?
Presumably, with debug disabled, fastboot from pc command prompt to unlock bootloader will not work? Can ODIN be used to flash a new ROM and if so my system apps (and thus the security apps) will be wiped, rendering the whole thing useless?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the stock recovery (custom will allow adb), your personal data is as secure as it can be. Of course, you cannot stop anybody from booting into your bootloader and run fastboot oem unlock OR use Odin to flash your device. However, doing so will effectively wipe your device so your personal data cannot be accessed.
I would more worry about my phone then data because I have nothing important on it...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Petrovski80 said:
If you have the stock recovery (custom will allow adb), your personal data is as secure as it can be. Of course, you cannot stop anybody from booting into your bootloader and run fastboot oem unlock OR use Odin to flash your device. However, doing so will effectively wipe your device so your personal data cannot be accessed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
qtwrk said:
I would more worry about my phone then data because I have nothing important on it...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification.
And I worry more about the work related data, the phone itself is insured
This is important info, and a lot of folks probably don't realize how open they are. This should be stickied or better yet included in the stickied thread where the bootloader unlock instructions are. Thanks for the post.
Great info. One question, I use Titanium Backup automated nightly to backup data and new apps, and it requires USB Debugging on.
I suppose I could use Secure Settings to turn USB Debugging on and off, but that means an opening is available once a day for a few minutes. Thoughts?
Pkt_Lnt said:
Great info. One question, I use Titanium Backup automated nightly to backup data and new apps, and it requires USB Debugging on.
I suppose I could use Secure Settings to turn USB Debugging on and off, but that means an opening is available once a day for a few minutes. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could do as I do: use secure settings in combination with tasker so USB debugging will only be enabled when connected to your home Wifi. It will allow your nightly TiB backups, and I assume the 'ADB opening' is not an issue when at home (not many thieves there I hope).
Petrovski80 said:
You could do as I do: use secure settings in combination with tasker so USB debugging will only be enabled when connected to your home Wifi. It will allow your nightly TiB backups, and I assume the 'ADB opening' is not an issue when at home (not many thieves there I hope).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded Secure Settings to check it, and it will work. I have AutomateIT Pro and it does not support plug-ins. I have been finding more tasks that it seems only Tasker can perform, I guess it is time to get it. Thank you.
Petrovski80 said:
You could do as I do: use secure settings in combination with tasker so USB debugging will only be enabled when connected to your home Wifi. It will allow your nightly TiB backups, and I assume the 'ADB opening' is not an issue when at home (not many thieves there I hope).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea.
Petrovski80 said:
You could do as I do: use secure settings in combination with tasker so USB debugging will only be enabled when connected to your home Wifi. It will allow your nightly TiB backups, and I assume the 'ADB opening' is not an issue when at home (not many thieves there I hope).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A Jasager router could exploit this if you have WiFi enabled in public. When WiFi is enabled and not connected to a network, every 'x' period of time (depending upon your wifi.supplicant_scan_interval setting in your build.prop) your phone will send out a packet saying "hey, is xyz network around?". It will do that for every network that you have saved settings for.
Under normal circumstances, you get no reply when away from your home router and the phone just waits the interval to try again. A Jasager ("yes man" in German) router waits for a device to send out those packets and simply responds "yep, that's me!". Under this circumstance, your phone would authenticate to their router and think it's on your home network, triggering any applicable Tasker options.
This is one of the reasons that I do not have WiFi enabled unless I actively want to be connected to a router in the area.
Also, I have USB Debugging disabled and my TiBu backups run perfectly fine according to schedule.
I am not a paranoid worry wart so the risk are more than worth it for me. There's nothing on here that I would care if some one got a hold of anyway.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Cilraaz said:
A Jasager router could exploit this if you have WiFi enabled in public. When WiFi is enabled and not connected to a network, every 'x' period of time (depending upon your wifi.supplicant_scan_interval setting in your build.prop) your phone will send out a packet saying "hey, is xyz network around?". It will do that for every network that you have saved settings for.
Under normal circumstances, you get no reply when away from your home router and the phone just waits the interval to try again. A Jasager ("yes man" in German) router waits for a device to send out those packets and simply responds "yep, that's me!". Under this circumstance, your phone would authenticate to their router and think it's on your home network, triggering any applicable Tasker options.
This is one of the reasons that I do not have WiFi enabled unless I actively want to be connected to a router in the area.
Also, I have USB Debugging disabled and my TiBu backups run perfectly fine according to schedule.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe. Tasker checks both the SSID and the MAC address of my router before it returns 'wifi connected' as true and enables USB debugging. Sure, MAC addresses are easy to spoof, but I don't think the MAC address is part of the broadcast packet (I haven't checked) because that's simply a value stored by Tasker itself.
And even if it is, the combination of a lost/stolen GNEX and a thief who modded their router with jasager firmware + knows ADB is too unlikely for me to worry about it. But indeed, for maximum security it's best not to automate enabling of USB debugging.
Petrovski80 said:
Maybe. Tasker checks both the SSID and the MAC address of my router before it returns 'wifi connected' as true and enables USB debugging. Sure, MAC addresses are easy to spoof, but I don't think the MAC address is part of the broadcast packet (I haven't checked) because that's simply a value stored by Tasker itself.
And even if it is, the combination of a lost/stolen GNEX and a thief who modded their router with jasager firmware + knows ADB is too unlikely for me to worry about it. But indeed, for maximum security it's best not to automate enabling of USB debugging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The MAC check would almost certainly keep you safe.
It's interesting stumbling across this thread after having just seen a podcast episode about Android hacking. If anyone is interested, check out Hak5. One of their recent episodes is about Android hacking via ADB, specifically something called P2PADB that was created for quick device-to-device ADB access. It was fairly amazing the things this person could do to a phone that has USB Debugging enabled.
Cilraaz said:
The MAC check would almost certainly keep you safe.
It's interesting stumbling across this thread after having just seen a podcast episode about Android hacking. If anyone is interested, check out Hak5. One of their recent episodes is about Android hacking via ADB, specifically something called P2PADB that was created for quick device-to-device ADB access. It was fairly amazing the things this person could do to a phone that has USB Debugging enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Watching the video right now. Personally, I find it a gaping security hole that the ADB interface is accessible through a locked lockscreen.
For anyone interested in the vid: the ADB part starts at 7:00.
Edit: amazing video. It really proves what a knowledgeable thief can do when you have USB debugging enabled, especially when combined with root access (don't we all?). I'm going to add the video to my post. Thanks for the info Cilraaz!
Greetings dellow xda dev's, I am currently running a Tmobile galaxy note 3, with the newest stock odexed FOL1 firmware, rooted, running twrp 2.8.5.0, I hav been installing apps and setting things up all day as a recent problem has forced me to factory reset my phone. Due to the way I use tasker to lock my phone (using secure settings to set a password) and restoring the old tasker profiles, my password appears to have been corrupted in some form or another as I have entered it a bunch of times and it won't unlock, claiming that the password is wrong. I have spent most of the evening looking at exploits and bypasses but none seem to work with my phone, there is no password.key file in the data/system folder, and deleting the gesture.key doesn't help. Using android device manager I can send a message to my phone and 'lock' it, but there is no unlock option anywhere on the screen; until I hit the home button and it simply sends me back to the normal lockscreen, and whatever new password I punched in with the manager doesn't work. I have tried several flashable zip files (lockscreen security bypass and pattern password disable), I have also tried everything mentioned in :http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2620456 that article, as well as poking around in adb and in twrp's file manager, as well as some old lockscreen vulnerabilities (sadly copy and paste do not appear on the emergency dialer or the password field).
I am rather desperate to get my phone unlocked without a factory reset, as I just barely recovered from one recently, and need my phone for work tomorrow morning. I do have some tasker and autoremote profiles running that will tell my phone to setoff an alarm through tasker, and that will alert my phone to when my tablets battery life is low, but I don't know if either of those will help. I do not have any trusted bluetooth devices that can unlock the phone, nor do I ever seem to find a password reset/forgot your password option after typing in my password.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated and tried come morning before work.
I'd like to enable Google Smartlock for passwords on my Google Pixel C, but when I was running Android N, under Settings/Security it shows my device as encrypted with no option to turn it off. So, I reloaded MM, N still has a lot of bugs I don't feel like messing with on an everyday tablet, but even under MM my device is encrypted with no option to disable it. Smartlock for passwords will not run on an encrypted device, but Google has decided to make encryption part of the OS. Is the only way around this is to unlock the bootloader and flash another ROM?
Rolldog said:
I'd like to enable Google Smartlock for passwords on my Google Pixel C, but when I was running Android N, under Settings/Security it shows my device as encrypted with no option to turn it off. So, I reloaded MM, N still has a lot of bugs I don't feel like messing with on an everyday tablet, but even under MM my device is encrypted with no option to disable it. Smartlock for passwords will not run on an encrypted device, but Google has decided to make encryption part of the OS. Is the only way around this is to unlock the bootloader and flash another ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never encrypt my devices so I couldn't speak about smart lock only working on encrypted devices. I know Marshmallow and up it's required for OEMs to encrypt (85% sure on that - I think it was supposed to start with Lollipop but OEMs weren't required to do so). Not that I don't believe you though, but that just seems weird for Google to "force" encryption but then allow another of their features, Smart Lock, to only work with unencrypted devices?
To answer your question - if you're running stock MM or N on a Google device, by default your data will be encrypted. The only way to decrypt would be to unlock the bootloader, format the data partition and flash a kernel that doesn't force encryption. You don't have to use another ROM per se, you just need a kernel that will keep you decrypted on your first boot.
I've no issue with smartlock on Pixel C, stock N5 and unencryted N9. I've only use trusted location - without GPS I wonder if you are having a problem with your location. Have you got "location" correctly set?
Ok, on your Pixel C, go into settings/Google, then scroll all the way to the bottom where it says Smartlock for Passwords, press it, and tell me what it says. When I do, it says, "This account uses custom passphrase encryption, which is unsupported at this time."
However, if I go to settings/security, I can enable Smart Lock, but just underneath where it says Smart Lock, it says:
Encryption
Encrypt Tablet
Encrypted
I never chose to encrypt anything, but, I guess Google uses encryption by default. Smart Lock can still be used, but Smartlock for Passwords can not.
Rolldog said:
Ok, on your Pixel C, go into settings/Google, then scroll all the way to the bottom where it says Smartlock for Passwords, press it, and tell me what it says. When I do, it says, "This account uses custom passphrase encryption, which is unsupported at this time."
However, if I go to settings/security, I can enable Smart Lock, but just underneath where it says Smart Lock, it says:
Encryption
Encrypt Tablet
Encrypted
I never chose to encrypt anything, but, I guess Google uses encryption by default. Smart Lock can still be used, but Smartlock for Passwords can not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry misunderstood. I think the answer is that using your own passphrase disables Smartlock on Android see: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1181035?p=settings_encryption&rd=1
"Some Google features will not be available after you set a sync passphrase
Google Now won’t show suggestions based on sites you browse in Chrome.
You won't be able to view your saved passwords on https://passwords.google.com or use Smart Lock for Passwords on Android.
Your history won't sync across devices. Web sites or URLs that you type in the address bar in Chrome will still sync."
Setting for Google/custom passphrase in chrome browser at chrome://settings/syncSetup
The strange thing is I don't use a custom passphrase, all of my information does sync between all of my devices, and I get Google Now cards based off my search history. However, last night, when I logged into an app, Smartlock for Passwords popped up and asked me if I wanted to save this password, so I guess it's working now. It still shows my tablet as encrypted, so I imagine it's just a bug.
Would anyone know if the Galaxy S9 natively supports user profiles so that multiple users can login and use the same phone with their unique settings and apps? If not would anyone be able to recommend an application that could accomplish this?
The functionality has been disabled for stock Samsung ROMs long time ago (if it was ever enabled). There were some discusions in the past regarding this and what I remember is that you need root for this to work. You have to edit build.prop and include the lines:
fw.show_multiuserui=1
fw.max_users=n (where "n" is a number indicating the max users on device - should be at least 2)
Alternative is to flash an AOSP based ROM that has the function enabled.
Rapier said:
The functionality has been disabled for stock Samsung ROMs long time ago (if it was ever enabled). There were some discusions in the past regarding this and what I remember is that you need root for this to work. You have to edit build.prop and include the lines:
fw.show_multiuserui=1
fw.max_users=n (where "n" is a number indicating the max users on device - should be at least 2)
Alternative is to flash an AOSP based ROM that has the function enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unfortunately cannot root the device as it will be provisioned for company use :/ is there a launcher that could help to accomplish this?
Sorry, none I know. The functionality is deep embeded in the OS, a launcher would not be enough to accomplish that
You could however use dual accounts for certain apps or mail and also use Secure Folder to lock out personal/private data. This way you will have some sort of multi user since the secure folder keeps data in separate encrypted form
Sent from nowhere over the air...