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If you are like me, you should have all your favorite apps, documents, pictures etc. stored right on your phone that basically gives a full picture of who you are as an individual. You also have been pretty satisfied with the pattern, pin number, password or face unlock or all of these together as a security you have in place to prevent unauthorized access. But here is something that happened by accident that led me down this thought process. While trying to yank out the phone from my pocket while driving (which when you are getting a phone call especially becomes the most impossible task), I noticed that the phone "Power Down", "Restart", "Airplane Mode" pop up was on. This is on top of my regular swipe to unlock with pin number lock screen. This made me curious and noticed that the back button will work to close this pop up and also the power button works to reactivate this pop up. I hope everyone is with me till here. What surprised me was that the phone will actually turn off or restart from this point without the need for an unlock code. This means anyone with rooting and backup knowledge can steal my phone, restart my phone into recovery and wipe it to make the phone their own or just create a backup (CWM) and through that access my personal information. I know that photos and documents stored on the external card is open unless encrypted. But I hoped the internal data would be secure.
What do you guys think about this? Is there any app that would prevent access to the phone while locked via hard keys? What do you do to keep your information safe?
TL;DR version
If phone is stolen and person has knowledge of android they can factory reset your phone, even if you have a password setup. If they enter recovery they can wipe data and factory reset your phone and now it is usable for them.
My theory if you have your phone rooted I wish there was a way to lock the recovery with a password. Unfortunately ODIN will always be available able to get back to stock. Cerberus is a great app to have full control of phone if stolen FYI
DesperateScorpion151 said:
What do you guys think about this? Is there any app that would prevent access to the phone while locked via hard keys? What do you do to keep your information safe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As soon as I realize it is missing I would activate the wipe feature in this software.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout&hl=en
If I have your phone in my possession I guarantee I can hack it regardless of any security measure you make take, so the best solution is to be able to wipe it remotely.
technically even a remote wipe is not enough if the thief is knowledgeable. I accidentally wiped flashing in Odin with nand erase checkd and recovered everything that was on it using this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705 so your never completely safe
Exactly my point like everyone else confirms it here. We have advanced so much to a point that even a 9 year old (not that 9 is too young to know computer basics) who is familiar with basics on rooting after reading through forums after forums can get away with stealing a smart phone now a days. At this point the only way I could think of protecting my data (first priority) and then track my phone is if the tracker is incorporated into the boot loader or recovery itself on top of what ever software you have installed in the OS. So if the thief tries to unlock my phone after a restart, the installed software should take care of the rest but If he/she is smart enough to go via boot loader or recovery then the incorporated tracker can do its thing. Anything of that sort exists?
Did you forget you could just pull the battery to get into recovery?
Why do you need to pull the battery?
Aerowinder said:
Why do you need to pull the battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't, but its easier than going through all of the steps OP posted.
I really doubt my data is worth anything. Pictures of my cats aren't exactly hot commodities and I don't store anything on my phone that I wouldn't publicly reveal, anyway.
I wouldn't be worried about my worthless information, just annoyed I was dumb enough to let it get stolen. Yeah, I know that basically anyone with half a brain can wipe a phone and re-sell it - it always amazes me when people think that thieves aren't smart enough to do that.
I'm cynical. Saves a lot of worry since I just expect the worst, I guess.
They get into your email where it may be more info to compromise.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
I would be less worried about the minute possibility of a phone thief targeting your personal information than I would be about your personal data being mined from your phone by numerous applications.
Bottom line is, if you use Google or Facebook, you personal information is already in the hands of giant corporations who will never be held accountable for the theft of your personal info.
Take Facebook for example - within the app, the only time it should ever ping your location is if you are using FB chat and have the location setting enabled. However, even when you disable location within FB chat, every single time you open Facebook it uses your GPS to get your location. Every time.
In addition, although you are unable to see it in action because there is no notification icon for it, I would bet a million bucks it's also pulling your network location if your GPS is off.
Facebook is constantly working in the background - even if you never opened it.
Google? I won't even begin to try and explain the amount of data they are collecting from you. As is T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, ATT, etc. every single second that your phone is on with data enabled.
Should we be concerned with some random thief who knows the ins and outs of Android pulling your data? Sure, we should think about it. But the reality is, if you own a smart phone your information is already out there in the hands of companies who will use it to any end they can in order to turn a profit. Period.
ButWhile I see the pros and cons of different parts involved in using social networks and so forth, one thing we can (at least for now) be certain of is that they won't use your credit card information etc. to make illegal purchases and so forth. I know of a person who routinely used the credit card app to check balance, pay bill etc. and next thing he was getting phone calls to see if the purchases made at a casino in Spain are OK?! This is without ever losing the phone!!. So, it could be worse in the case of phone loss. Sure, personal data, pictures and even email to some extent is not as bothersome to me as identity theft. Thank to some anti-fraud features of the banks etc. one can deny and simply not be associated with that activity (of course in legitamate cases). My friend ended up getting another card with different number and they closed the online banking account. He had to re-register all over with another id. So, it can be a big hassle. I heard of cases where people had to hire lawyers and run around courts to prove their innocence due to identity theft. Of course if you keep a picture of your driving licence on the phone, you are really asking for it so... (trust me, one girl was doing this because she didn't want to carry her purse/wallet on night outs)
Having said that, I am always worried if the roms we download here in XDA have trojans or backdoors built into kernels and system files... I know that it is like doubting even the good devs but how do we know for sure? Unless you are really an in-depth expert and figure out all the details such as processes and ports that are open and so forth, how do you really know? The phone's data icons keep pinging back and forth every now and then and at times I wonder what's being sent and what is it receiving... just sync'ing contacts...or...??
Call me paranoid but, after what happened to my friend, and similar stories, I am a bit skeptical about the security and integrity of the ROMs in the first place... Now, mostly I download and try different roms and settle on one that suits my preferences. I use the phone for calls as well as to make general tasks easier in many aspects except financial transactions. In short, I don't trust my smart phones.
For those of you wondering what Google is tracking, (not by any means the only place to look) login to your gmail account and look around different settings. You'll see web history, phone data to name a few..
Hi Geniuses in XDA!
A strange one for you if you are able to help I would appreciate it. (sooo much)
I was an Apple stalwart for years but got so fed up of them being so inflexible and pushing stupid iOS updates on users every other month I thought an Android Phone would be the way to go.
So many peeps said great things about the S7 so I researched it and after a short while saw that S7 Active would be a better choice than the S7 or S7 edge.
I bought a G891A phone from ebay as a refurb in September 2018, it was in great condition. Worked like a dream MUCH better than Apple stuff. Much faster, brilliant battery life and better everything!
Last week (Thursday evening 28th Feb to be exact) I was charging the phone as usual before sleeping and while holding the phone in my hand and the screen locked - it looked like it rebooted, I wondered why did this happen but no biggie so I left it without the charger connected until the morning.
When I picked up the phone to use it in the morn, the startup PIN would not work which has never happened before.
I carefully entered the PIN - no joy, and again and again, then I tried every different denomination of the same number no joy, then the stock 0000 and 000000 and 1234 and 123456 . nothing still locked.
Buy this time a message came up with the 'you have x tries left until a factory reset' - tried several google searches and found similar issues but not the exact same scenario.
Tried loading progs via the SD card that would disable the PIN or allow the password file in the OS to be deleted but none of these would work as I have the stock samsung recovery and not TWRP or similar so the 'not authorised error' would come up in recovery when trying to load anything I downloaded..
Eventually I just tried the same PIN again until the phone wiped and reset it self - no real issue I thought as I have a current full BU via google drive so I let the phone restore the backup to the phone partially, then I thought what if the backup doesn't contain all the stuff I want? So stopped and disabled google play and put the phone on airplane mode to prevent any further data being written to the phone and potentially over writing anything file that had been given a deletion marker by the filesystem..
I did this as my main method of storing records/notes about many things is via memos. and realised that the goggle drive stock backup does not include Memos or SMS Texts. ( I checked through the entire listing of what was backed up on the google backups)
No I didn't enable the Samsung backup just the google drive one :crying: BUT I WISH I DID NOW!
Anyway you lovely lot - is there any way I can ROOT this phone with minimal file overwriting damage so I can get in the FS and get to the deleted memos and sms texts in the internal memory of the phone and copy them elsewhere using ADB or software or similar?
I refuse to be defeated on this as its not an APPLE!
PLEEZ HALP!!!
Phone is running 7.0
Build is NRD90M.G891AUCS2BQH1
I hope I have been clear in explaining - Need any other info please ask!
TL;DR
Moto Z2 Play - XT1710-07
The phone recognizes the SIM card but there is no signal (no service). Tried several things, including flashing a custom ROM. I'm considering buying a new motherboard and changing it myself, but first want to know if anyone knows more about this issue or has an idea/suggestion.
Edit: As an added bonus, something that only now I realized. Now when I charge it, it gets EXTREMELY hot. Like I-can't-even-use-it hot. I used to use the phone while charging all the time, but now I can't even hold it. Seems like the problem is when it tries go past 80% charge. It gets super slow, keeps trying and gets hot. Now I don't know if it's a software problem caused by the various flashings or if it's something that would remain even after swapping the motherboard.
Edit 2: I did a full discharge of the phone and recharged it while turned off. It seems to have normalized the battery problem
Edit 3: RIP. I tried to remove the screen before deciding about buying a new board. In the process, I ended up tearing the digitizer flat cable apart. Now I don't think it's worth it buying both a new screen and a motherboard.
The full story and things I've tried
My phone was working all nice and dandy until it stopped having signal/service. Wifi works normally, but anything related to the SIM card doesn't, like phone calls or mobile data.
A list of things I've tried somewhat in order (both of time and of complexity):
* My SIM in another phone: it works normally, so the problem is not the SIM itself
* Another SIM in my phone: it doesn't work, so the problem is definitely the phone
* Using the second SIM slot
* Changing "Preferred Network Type" between the available ones (4G, 3G, 2G, including Enhanced 4G LTE Mode on and off): this one and the next two items don't really make sense to me, since these options seem to be only related to mobile data (4G/3G internet) connection, not to phone calls which is also not working, but I tried them anyway
* Manually selecting the network: Errors with "Selected network unavailable" and, after trying to register for a while, toasts another error saying "Can't connect to the network, try again later"
* Manually selecting the APN: Tried both selecting between the two options available and manually adding an APN by googling the correct info for my carrier
* Simply booting into fastboot and restarting bootloader: a video on YouTube claimed that it was a temporary solution and that I'd need to do it every time it lost signal. But it didn't even work the first time
* Disabling CQATest and then restarting bootloader (and also clearing its data/cache and removing its permissions): a lot of videos on YouTube claimed this was a solution, including for other Motorola phones. Apparently CQATest prevents the phone from working properly in some scenarios. But I think only when you de-google your phone? Not sure. All I know is that it didn't work either
* Using the phone connected to the wall charger: I think this was another YouTube suggestion, and it actually worked for a few minutes. But I guess it was just a coincidence, as it never worked again
Now for some more... "forceful" attempts:
* Factory Reset: Not sure where I saw this suggestion, but it was pretty much the next logical step. Gathered courage, backed up all my data, etc, aaand... nothing again
* Flashing another ROM: Guess it was here at XDA that I read that it was a problem with Motorola's stock ROM. That, paired with my belief that it could still be related to CQATest being installed, I again gathered more courage to flash a custom ROM. I chose LineageOS and found out that it was no longer supported, but decided to install the last official release. I also read that the problem was the Pie modem firmware, so it all seemed to be going fine since the last official release is Oreo 8.1. I flashed it and BAM it worked! ... for a few minutes and never again. I messed around with LineageOS, tried some of the previous things again, but nothing.
Then, I tried to restore my TWRP backup but it didn't work. So I searched a bit more and downloaded the Stock Pie ROM, flashed it, and closed the bootloader. And then I realized the restore probably didn't work since my backup was made using Pie and my phone was on Oreo. Maybe some files/partitions were missing? Also, when I was creating my TWRP backups, I tried creating a full system image backup but it kept erroring. Only later I realized the problem was that the USB Drive was FAT32 and the full system image was bigger than 4GB. Oh, well, now I know.
So now that I'm with my phone pretty much back on square one, I take it to an authorized repair shop. The clerk said that it was a common problem, and that sometimes it could be solved "by software" and that they'd try that. The other option was to change the whole motherboard, which they didn't do because it was "not worth it" and "almost the full price of a new phone". After two days, my suspicions were confirmed: they didn't fix it with their "by software" attempt. At least I didn't have to pay anything.
When I got the phone back, I put the SIM in again and it showed the icon as if there was signal. But when I tried to call someone, the signal disappeared again. I tried searching a bit more, went through all pages of Q&A here at XDA forums and there were like 3 posts regarding loss of signal. All without any response. On YouTube, I found some videos offering a suspicious .bat file. Upon inspection, it merely erased the modemst1 and modemst2 partitions and then wiped user data and cache. I tried it, nothing to lose. Also didn't work.
Now I'm contemplating a few options:
By watching some disassembly videos, I saw that, when opened, the phone has some parts that act like antennas. I thought that maybe those were not properly connected to the board? Maybe they got dislodged during a fall? Seems unlikely tho, since they are screwed in. I searched for a new motherboard to buy and it's a reasonable price. But I'm afraid it'll have the same problem (or develop it in a short time) since I can't find anywhere what the true cause of the problem is.
Another option is to just give up, buy a new phone and use this one as if it was a "small tablet" lol
So, do you guys have any other suggestions or ideas as to what might be the problem? Maybe a tip like "solder a wire to this spot to create a make-do antenna"? I don't really know where else to search.
If not, thanks anyway for those who read it all
So, since I've got this over monster I've had a shocking number of issues. From sudden influx of crap followers online, people sending photos of some of those little people some people keep as pets.
But, it was probably a month in kept getting restarts that left my wall paper different, noticed key guard was in the running processes and Samsung wasn't able to give me much info at all.
Frequently my antivirus Would randomly flag some huge archive that would appear in Google vending folder and for some reason my weather app for my gear fit updated EVERYDAY
Today a series of unfortunate events and my phone did a factory reset shortly after a drop. I actually find that interesting because I don't know the drop or one of my...well call them gremlins. (Let's face it most of things i have attributed are probably just me going into PTSD blah blah blah... )
But today Turn process I did streamline to get Nic cards logging up and go and build to set up a good firewall get ad blockers going but I wanted to see what happened. And I go my weather app eventually.
And for some reason over in reddit they tend to think permissions like this are normal (I know Samsung's calculator is more than a calculator but mine once had almost every permission with about 800MB storage taken up.
So, This weather app seemed a little abnormal look up the IP address, looked up the company and, I looked furlough their partners for Samsung and Knox (didnt Find the one)
Just a quick assumption;
This module has the Hotspot 2.0 and REALLY likes its certificates. I noticed the option to share Your Wi-Fi with someone is always default toggle on.
If you scroll through the websites what we do you see that they are very proud that they have the edge one of the largest threat assessments for everybody when hop away from 1 of their servers , how many of them there are etc. And I Have this feeling that my device is actually just a nice little go between allowing others access to the internet while gathering their data points.
I can't actually post links but if you do their site plus this thing takes you right to the talk about their platform. Gove the data that goes through phones, that is good for anything from Cambridge analytica code level stealing countries to just figuring out how stable and great 5G is
/us/en/
what-we-do/intelligent-platform
I've seen the Address actually go by in my primary bp and add blocker but that 1 doesn't give me per app metrics so not sure what else goes to them.
Also, suddenly I think I know at least partially why they don't want flashed ROMS(?), at least yet.
I'd actually really like to know if anyone else, specifically related to 5G sees these also. Given the timing of that release device and anal FMRi weather app there. And for some reason even though I use a little cheaper company gives me unlimited data they have swapped my network several times between bigger company the smaller company. Its same towers and stuff usually so no big deal but, doesn't normally do that. (Have noticed that actually from the Galaxy store I see that quite often, but the "same" download from play store different version number less permissions)
(By the way hello this is the 1st device actually looking to rooting, prior the risk of that access to someone else was too much. Thanks for letting me join the community, I do hope I catch on quick ans don't drive any one too crazy)
(I tried to add in pictures of the weather app permissions and everything but can't post pictures either)
A drop shouldn't cause a factory reset... if it was caused by software you have an apk(s) that are trashware.
A 3rd party launcher put mine in a boot loop... twice.
If you did a recent firmware update it may have corrupted that load, reload as you did.
A virus or trojan are suspect as well. Run Malwarebytes and Trojan scanner. Some malware may not always be detected.
If you suspect a virus after a reload be careful what you load and bring into the system including the on SD card and any backups. Start with the base load and add only apps from Playstore at first. Go from there if it runs ok. Be wary of updates, one at a time, look for issues as you progress.
Same with backup data... if it's there you'll need to isolate it or dump all the data.
Use a package disabler like PD MDM to block bloatware from running and to troubleshoot.
blackhawk said:
A 3rd party launcher put mine in a boot loop... twice.
If you did a recent firmware update it may have corrupted that load, reload as you did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was worried so, as I'd never seen it i just know these things actually include that hardware backed encryption. I had worries that I had knocked that loose and might have issues with it later. (Accelerometer is off bit it seems now)
I can say likely:
1. Third party lock screen with data wipe. Not highly reviewed but was but trashy. May have accidently in the tussle woke the screen with motion and performed a wipe.
2. Package disabled. I play with what I can get away with disabling. Some Knox stuff is bit touchy.
3. I'd managed to start process of adding a second secure folder on a secondary profile. It hadn't like it but stayed working.
Or combo 2 & 3 but lock screen most likely I'd say
HungryRobotics said:
I was worried so, as I'd never seen it i just know these things actually include that hardware backed encryption. I had worries that I had knocked that loose and might have issues with it later. (Accelerometer is off bit it seems now)
I can say likely:
1. Third party lock screen with data wipe. Not highly reviewed but was but trashy. May have accidently in the tussle woke the screen with motion and performed a wipe.
2. Package disabled. I play with what I can get away with disabling. Some Knox stuff is bit touchy.
3. I'd managed to start process of adding a second secure folder on a secondary profile. It hadn't like it but stayed working.
Or combo 2 & 3 but lock screen most likely I'd say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a good case like the Bolt. High G impacts can cause internal damage but usually not especially if in a case.
I don't use secure folder, encryption or any screen lock especially 3rd party. Any apk you give administrator rights to lock the phone can effectively trash your OS load in a heartbeat.
Have had passwords get corrupted (rare) before and gotten totally locked out on a laptop bios.
That machine is now useless.
On Androids you can reload to recover if all else fails but a reload takes a lot of work...
Can anyone help me carrier unlock my Verizon phone? My phone has been hacked and I hope being able to flash it will help me to get rid of whatever they have done to it. Can anyone tell me why I get this message when I reset my phone? Any help would be greatly appreciated
there is no carrier unlock for VZW models. if you can boot into recovery, sideload the OTA version that was last on your device.
What did you do that resulted in the phone being hacked? With the sectors being wiped that are shown in the images, it looks like you have provided total device access to something whilst having an unlocked bootloader or something similar. If you let us know what happened, it might help us to figure out what options you may still have.
But definitely see if you can do what @uicnren mentioned first.
Im not sure who or how they wiped anything. It happened one day after connecting to my girlfriends wifi. I got ahold of Verizon and they sent me a new phone and as soon as I started it the same thing happened to it also
How do I find what OTA version was used on my phone?
Nothing hacked here... this is an error when wiping the Secure Element (the trusted secure module).
(https://android-review.linaro.org/p...cure_element/1.0/SecureElementHalCallback.cpp line #66)
Are you initiating the wipe from the recovery? If so, that's likely the reason. If there is an account attached to the device, a wipe must first be initiated from within Android (Settings)
Woodruff87 said:
Im not sure who or how they wiped anything. It happened one day after connecting to my girlfriends wifi. I got ahold of Verizon and they sent me a new phone and as soon as I started it the same thing happened to it also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what symptoms were you seeing that made you think you were hacked?
Those errors are normal in Recovery Mode. I see them all the time, sometimes they don't appear, usually they do.
Did you remove your google accounts from settings, do a factory reset from the reset menu and lastly in recovery mode where you posted the screenshots from.
Your Account might be hacked but the phone is unlikely hacked. You would get a message at boot telling you that the device has been modified. With a locked bootloader its extremely unlikely (unless NSO Group is targeting you).
Woodruff87 said:
Can anyone help me carrier unlock my Verizon phone? My phone has been hacked and I hope being able to flash it will help me to get rid of whatever they have done to it. Can anyone tell me why I get this message when I reset my phone? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you unlock the bootloader? Have custom firmware/kernel installed?
A "hacker" wins nothing by resetting/wiping your phone. They want data, and that only works if the phone can turn on and works. This looks like a wipe/factory reset gone wrong, which spells user error or software error and less likely a "hacker" attack. Most hacks you will never notice. A hacker that makes you notice that something went wrong, is either an amateur or did it on purpose. Ergo, he wants you to know that something went wrong, which usually only happens in order to extort you. If there is no extortion, then an obvious act by a hacker is highly unlikely.
We need some more information. What firmware had you installed? What happened exactly when. Did you install any new apps recently? What did you do prior to something going wrong? All the information that could help us troubleshoot your issue.
You said your phone wiped itself a day after connecting to your girlfriends wifi, and that a replacement device that you got sent by your carrier, did the same. Did you check your Google account? Do you have two factor authentication activated? It sounds like your phone got wiped over wifi, which would require access to your Google account. It's just odd that you get errors, which normally shouldn't happen if someone would use the erase a lost Android device function.
It's also possible that your backup from your GAccount is simply corrupted (many people had issues with random reboots). You should try and set up your (replacement) phone anew without any backup, maybe that can fix your issue.
Beyond that Google account thing-y, anything else is highly unlikely. Even specialized companies have serious issues getting into a modern smartphone, lest alone an Android 12 phone with a Google Server grade Titan m2 chip. The newer the firmware, the less likely the chance that someone from the outside could get in, especially with a phone like a Pixel that isn't very common. Most security firms/govermental agencies can only abuse older, known security loopholes. It's more likely that very popular phones like a Samsung or IPhone are targets from "the bad guys", since there will be bigger payoff for breaking the security of those phones, since there is a greater pool of users to target. Most hacks I've witnessed weren't random, they were targeted. Ask yourself: Am I worth the trouble of getting hacked? Do you have anything of interest on your phone that would warrant an excessive use of resources? Managing to hack a Pixel is not only unlikely in terms of the security you need to breach, but also in terms of the potential payoff in relation to the necessary knowhow and resources. It's just "not worth it".
What you should do immediately, just in case, is secure your Google account. Change your password. Maybe even change your two-factor authentication, if you have one (sms is not secure, use a token generating software/device). Change the wifi password from your girlfriend and check the list of connected devices. make a list of these connected devices + history (find that in the rooter software) and check them against the devices you know of. Also check the list of connected devices to your GAccount. Use the option to log out ALL devices from your Google account, so only your device is connected.
Do any other people have access to your phone? Do any other people know your passwords? Does your girlfriend has access? Do any other people have biometric security saved on your phone? Do you trust your girlfriend completely?
Make sure you use a special, new password for your GAccount, never reuse old ones that you have used somewhere else. Also check your emails on https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Beyond that, if you are not doing already, use a password manager.
Woodruff87 said:
Im not sure who or how they wiped anything. It happened one day after connecting to my girlfriends wifi. I got ahold of Verizon and they sent me a new phone and as soon as I started it the same thing happened to it also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait a sec. Verizon sent you a new (refurbished probably but new nonetheless) phone and when you turned it on weren't you greeted with the startup menu? Am I missing something?
Morgrain said:
Did you unlock the bootloader? Have custom firmware/kernel installed?
A "hacker" wins nothing by resetting/wiping your phone. They want data, and that only works if the phone can turn on and works. This looks like a wipe/factory reset gone wrong, which spells user error or software error and less likely a "hacker" attack. Most hacks you will never notice. A hacker that makes you notice that something went wrong, is either an amateur or did it on purpose. Ergo, he wants you to know that something went wrong, which usually only happens in order to extort you. If there is no extortion, then an obvious act by a hacker is highly unlikely.
We need some more information. What firmware had you installed? What happened exactly when. Did you install any new apps recently? What did you do prior to something going wrong? All the information that could help us troubleshoot your issue.
You said your phone wiped itself a day after connecting to your girlfriends wifi, and that a replacement device that you got sent by your carrier, did the same. Did you check your Google account? Do you have two factor authentication activated? It sounds like your phone got wiped over wifi, which would require access to your Google account. It's just odd that you get errors, which normally shouldn't happen if someone would use the erase a lost Android device function.
It's also possible that your backup from your GAccount is simply corrupted (many people had issues with random reboots). You should try and set up your (replacement) phone anew without any backup, maybe that can fix your issue.
Beyond that Google account thing-y, anything else is highly unlikely. Even specialized companies have serious issues getting into a modern smartphone, lest alone an Android 12 phone with a Google Server grade Titan m2 chip. The newer the firmware, the less likely the chance that someone from the outside could get in, especially with a phone like a Pixel that isn't very common. Most security firms/govermental agencies can only abuse older, known security loopholes. It's more likely that very popular phones like a Samsung or IPhone are targets from "the bad guys", since there will be bigger payoff for breaking the security of those phones, since there is a greater pool of users to target. Most hacks I've witnessed weren't random, they were targeted. Ask yourself: Am I worth the trouble of getting hacked? Do you have anything of interest on your phone that would warrant an excessive use of resources? Managing to hack a Pixel is not only unlikely in terms of the security you need to breach, but also in terms of the potential payoff in relation to the necessary knowhow and resources. It's just "not worth it".
What you should do immediately, just in case, is secure your Google account. Change your password. Maybe even change your two-factor authentication, if you have one (sms is not secure, use a token generating software/device). Change the wifi password from your girlfriend and check the list of connected devices. make a list of these connected devices + history (find that in the rooter software) and check them against the devices you know of. Also check the list of connected devices to your GAccount. Use the option to log out ALL devices from your Google account, so only your device is connected.
Do any other people have access to your phone? Do any other people know your passwords? Does your girlfriend has access? Do any other people have biometric security saved on your phone? Do you trust your girlfriend completely?
Make sure you use a special, new password for your GAccount, never reuse old ones that you have used somewhere else. Also check your emails on https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Beyond that, if you are not doing already, use a password manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I really appreciate the help and all the advice. I checked https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and my account has been pawned in 1 data breach... I will deactivate the Google account and start over fresh. Thanks again for all the info
bencozzy said:
Two things are they refurbished? And do they work without signing into google?
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The first one was new, but the one I got from Google as a replacement was refurbished. Ill try resetting through the settings and deactivating all my accounts.
Woodruff87 said:
Thanks I really appreciate the help and all the advice. I checked https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and my account has been pawned in 1 data breach... I will deactivate the Google account and start over fresh. Thanks again for all the info
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This, among many other things, is one of the reasons I use GrapheneOS and NO gooble services (despite all the attention they give to sandboxed gooble services).
Woodruff87 said:
Thanks I really appreciate the help and all the advice. I checked https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and my account has been pawned in 1 data breach... I will deactivate the Google account and start over fresh. Thanks again for all the info
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Click to collapse
your google address was found on that site for another service and you used the same password for both services, correct?
despite what some believe, your google account will not get hacked unless your password is insecure (ie. leaked or insufficient with 2FA). anything less and your asking for trouble (also using GrapheneOS).