Develop Bugs

First SMS-sending Android Trojan reported

hey folks, thought this is useful for everybody
Source: cissp dot com website (cannot post the url)
"Security experts warned on Tuesday about what is believed to be the first Trojan targeting Android-based mobile devices that racks up charges by sending text messages to premium-rate numbers.
The Trojan-SMS malware, dubbed "Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a," is being distributed via an unknown malicious Web site, said Denis Maslennikov, senior malware researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
Users are prompted to install a "media player application" that is a little bigger than 13 kilobytes, but which is hiding the Trojan inside, according to Kaspersky and mobile-phone security company Lookout, which analyzed the threat.
Like all Android apps, the program asks for permission to do certain things upon install. In this case it asks for permission to send SMS messages, with a prompt that identifies it as a "service that costs you money," as well as to read or delete data and collect data about the phone and the phone ID, Kaspersky and Lookout said.
Once installed, the Trojan starts sending SMS messages behind the scenes that cost several dollars per message, without the device owner knowing it.
It appears to be affecting Android smartphone users in Russia and to only work on Russian networks, Lookout said. "As far as we know, there is no indication that this app is in the Android Market," Lookout said in a blog post. It was also reported on a Russian smartphone news site.
A Google spokesman provided this statement when asked for comment: "Our application permissions model protects against this type of threat. When installing an application, users see a screen that explains clearly what information and system resources the application has permission to access, such as a user's phone number or sending an SMS. Users must explicitly approve this access in order to continue with the installation, and they may uninstall applications at any time. We consistently advise users to only install apps they trust. In particular, users should exercise caution when installing applications outside of Android Market."
Android users must change a default setting to accept apps from outside the Android marketplace.
To tell if you are affected, review your bills for any premium SMS messages. Lookout also suggests that if you have recently downloaded a media player, check the permission to make sure the app is not sending SMS messages.
The company recommends that smartphone users only download apps from trusted sources, and avoid downloading media player files that request permission to access your text messages, particularly if they want to send messages from the phone.
"

malicious app .. trojan:android plankton
Google Android Market is infected from new Plankton (Apperhand) variant
More than a Million infected from new Plankton(Apperhand) variant on Google android market
Over the last few weeks, Appriva Threat intelligence lab has seen a new variant of Trojan.Android.Plankton emerge embedded in various apps on the Google Android Market. This variant calls ‘itself’apperhand.
At the time of writing blog, the following apps are being detected by Appriva and one other Antivirus vendor. From the Google Android market it is estimated that more than a million users could be infected.

Market account ...

Hi,
How does the Market account work?
I meant, when you have a new Android phone, you setup an account, Google Checkout so you can buy some apps from Market.
Now, when you bought a second phone ... can you use the same Google Checkout account? So, you can re-download all the apps that you bought in the phone1 to this new phone.
I am asking this to anticipate the new upcoming Android tablets I really hate if I must re-purchase all the apps
Thanks

I think it's one account per phone. Don't quote me on that though.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Currently, there is nothing stopping you downloading your paid apps to a second device linked to the same account. That may change of course, especially with the new licensing service, but it is certainly the case for now.
Regards,
Dave

4 great alternatives to Google Play

Let's face it, we all know that Google has a monopoly with its set of apps in the US. Why? Because all the popular manufacturers have made a contract with Google to include all of the gapps in their phones. What does that mean? It means that every phone you buy will include Google Play as the default appstore to buy all the software on your phone. There are no other alternatives installed by default.The good thing about Android is that it gives you freedom and with it comes option. These options are four alternatives you can install on your phone or tablet, where you can download all the apps you need.
f-droid
It is appstore that includes a repositorie of only free and open source (FOSS) apps. Does not need an account to work.
Amazon appstore
Amazon's own alternative to Google Play. Needs an Amazon account to work. Offers free and paid apps.There is also free paid app offer each day.
Yandex.store
Yandex known as the Google of Russia launched its own appstore to compete in select markets. Does not need an account to download free apps. For paid apps, you may need an account.
While the number of all these stores combined pales in comparison to Google's own. They are quite good alternatives for those who want to different options and do not want to depend only on Google.

+aptoide store
no registration needed

Awesome thanks cuatr0, I will have to give these a try .
Cheers
Quazza

THe issue is there are other app sites as well . But they come and go. Say you buy a bunch of apps from one of them . They useally do not track your apps and allow you to reinstall all with one push. And say you buy a 10.00 app then the site closes..
I think google and Amazon are only two i would trust at this time

wheres the 4th alternative?

Because of government rules and regulations, Google Play Store is not working in China. Therefore, there are many Chinese APP Stores such as Baidu phone helper, wandoujia and XX market as a substitution of Play Store. And some of these APP Stores such as Anzhi market may provide paied apps to you. Chinese is also a better option if you are less concerned about your privacy.

i often use the store on androidpit, but i still prefer the easy access to google play

information on the new google play service 6.1

information on the new google play service 6.1
Conference in Google's developer last Google I / O 2014 is said to be updated application services Google Play Google Play Services within six weeks and this happened and already today, where the company has to send the new update, which holds 6.1 across Market Play, which adds some changes and features that may not mostly unnoticed while the user is aware of how important the developer much.
Some of the changes that the user can view related to the user interface The application settings Google Google Settings provided a new design for the head (upper part), but the application games Google Play Google Play Games has become contain fund a new dialogue to transform the profile of public to private, which became equipped with the same color green images that we saw in the new update for the Google Play store version 5.0, in addition to a new bar for points XP started whenever the user moves a game has also become a new interface achievements transparent background.
Google improved application services Google Play 6.1 through analysis tool Enhanced Ecommerce that give many information such as orientation sellers and clicks the product, as well as impressions has also been added to support this tool in Google Tag Manager to manage tags with improvements to the APIs APIs own service cloud storage Google Drive and solving the problem of conflicts between local files and files stored in the servers along with the changes obtained by the interface and choose the file in this service design Material Design.
Updated Google Play Services 6.1 package also included developmental fitness Google Fit which was announced last month, where any developer can now test applications for fitness in any phone running Android.

Identity theft victim of identity

Why I prefer Amazon Appstore over Playstore.

I posted this an another forum, but couldn't generate much discussion. I'm hoping to get some input on this topic. Lately, I've been transitioning to getting most of my apps from Amazon Appstore instead of Google Playstore. I need to make a distinction here, I'm not a fan of Fire OS, just their Appstore experience. Here are some of the reasons why I prefer Amazon Appstore, remember these are my personal experience, you don't have to agree to them:
-Free apps. Playstore have free stuff once a while, but there are so much give away by Amazon and good ones too.
-Coins. Initially I thought the concept of coins were stupid and redundant, but if you have kids or have a single family account that are accessed by multiple person/devices, coins are very useful. You don't need to add credit card info or buy physical gift cards to redeem money, just gift that account some coins and it can purchase apps and online contents. It's a good way to avoid overspending. Also sometimes you get coins bonus from purchases.
-Alphabetic list of apps you purchased and downloaded. IMO, Google purposefully do not list your purchased apps by alphabetic orders so it is harder to search and remember them after you have too many apps, which results in buying more apps. I spent about $500 total for apps and in app purchases over the years on PlayStore, when I want to look through all the apps I bought I have to scroll through a long list of apps completely unsorted. I am aware there are third party apps that can sort Playstore apps, but they are can have bugs when there are updates and are not integrated, I don't want to use them.
-No "license key apps" or "unlocked pro features apps". Sometimes on Playstore when you download a free app, if you want to unlock the pro features you also have to download the license key app, which is not an app in itself, but only serve the purpose of unlocking the pro features. I'm not a fan of this and it's clumsy design imo. It seems Amazon doesn't allow this and instead have them as in app purchases. I actually like the IAP implementation by Amazon, you can disable IAP all together, which is useful if you have kids or just hate IAPs. I'm actually not sure if Playstore have PIN code for quick purchases, I remember that option used to exist in the older Playstore versions, but it's convenient to make Amazon purchases with a PIN.
-Does not require joining social network to review apps or sync your games. It is ludicrous that Google required you to join Google+ to review Playstore apps or use "Play Games" feature. Amazon have game syncing features that keep scores and savegames as well, you only need to log into your Amazon account. I don't want Google+ enable for my private email, but I already purchased many Playstore contents on it, so I'll have to continue to use it, unless Google allows me to transfer all my Playstore purchases from one email to another.
-Lastly, this might sound stupid, but it have it's benefits. With Amazon Appstore, you can access to your apps on both Android and Amazon devices. The key difference here is unlike trying to get a Google services to work on a Kindle devices, vice versa you don't have to do any hackery or unsupported trials to get Amazon Appstore to work on Android devices, it just work immediately after sideloading.
I think the biggest factor for me is due to the free apps and coins bonuses, I feel more rewarded when using Amazon Appstore than Playstore. Currently, I do not root my phone any longer, I don't bother with kernel tweaking, that significantly reduces my reliance on the Google Playstore since most of the root apps are there. Except for a few apps, pretty much Playstore is only used for updating Google apps on my Android phone now. One thing that I still feel missing from both stock Android and Fire OS are permission management (without rooting), which why I'm still using CyanogenMod for the Privacy Guard feature.
As for the Fire Phone. I've watched some reviews on this phone, but all of them are from hardcore Android users, so there isn't a bias free view on it. I think Fire OS interface is still dreadful, I've read the bad reviews, but I still want to try it myself. I figure for $100 unlocked (subtract the one year free Prime membership) it'll make a good backup phone considering it have similar specs to the Nexus 5 (except 1080p) which cost 3 times as much. This is not my daily phone, I have multiple other Android phones currently so it's not like I'm limiting myself.

I was an early adopter of Amazon Appstore, but company's shady practices turned me off and I doubt I will put any money into their apps. They did not allow any restrictions on purchases, if kids would use my tablet they could buy anything there and there was nothing I could do. I see a similar trend in Fire Phone, by default it comes registered to your account, using one-click payment. They are ready to take your money even if you do not authorize the purchase yourself.

virx14 said:
I was an early adopter of Amazon Appstore, but company's shady practices turned me off and I doubt I will put any money into their apps. They did not allow any restrictions on purchases, if kids would use my tablet they could buy anything there and there was nothing I could do. I see a similar trend in Fire Phone, by default it comes registered to your account, using one-click payment. They are ready to take your money even if you do not authorize the purchase yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I notice that they enabled one click purchase automatically after I install Appstore on the device, but it seems I can disable it, and even remotely from "Your Account -> Your Apps and Devices" from Amazon website. I just make sure Parental Control is enabled on all my Amazon devices.
I have to admit one thing I like about Google Playstore is there is a feature where you can request to get refunds on apps you bought that are past their refund period. When I found out about it, I tried to get refund for more than a dozen apps that I either didn't like or no longer updated and got refund for over half of them. Amazon have something called Test Drive to try out app, but it's not the same thing.

It's funny how Google update some of their apps sooner on iOS than on Android, and doesn't support Amazon devices even though it's closer to Android than iOS. I wonder if they will change their mind once Amazon devices gain more market share.

eksasol said:
It's funny how Google update some of their apps sooner on iOS than on Android, and doesn't support Amazon devices even though it's closer to Android than iOS. I wonder if they will change their mind once Amazon devices gain more market share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google apps aren't included in FireOS because it's not 'Google Certified', which it would need include the Play Store, Maps, Gmail, etc.
So either Amazon didn't send FireOS to get certified, it failed the certification process, or Google wouldn't put it though the certification process for some reason.

pjs312 said:
Google apps aren't included in FireOS because it's not 'Google Certified', which it would need include the Play Store, Maps, Gmail, etc.
So either Amazon didn't send FireOS to get certified, it failed the certification process, or Google wouldn't put it though the certification process for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's more to do with Amazon trying to compete with Google as far as appstores go so why put another appstore on your phone when you want to make the money.
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