5 ms·
The app has root, it can easily break out of the APK and ensure reinstallation just like other Android malware does. Factory resetting might work if the system
by mehhh 7y ago
The app has root, it can easily break out of the APK and ensure reinstallation just like other Android malware does.
Factory resetting might work if the system partition is not modified, but that covers only a portion of Android devices.
- lern_too_spel 7y agoThe app does not have root. It just requests a lot of permissions.
- mehhh 7y ago> An app analysis tool shows that this app––MFsocket.apk––gains ROOT access to an Android phone Source: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2019/07/spyware-used-on-phones-at-xinjiang-border/ https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2019/07/spyware-used-on-phones...
- lern_too_spel 7y agoFengcai is the app your original article talked about, which the police install when you enter Xinjiang. It does not try to get root access. MFsocket is a separate app that has both an iPhone and Android version that police in Beijing use that does attempt to gain root on both platforms. It is unlikely to actually get root on an Android phone that a technologist would use.
- jethro_tell 7y agoWhat steps are we talking about here that a technologist would have taken here?
- lern_too_spel 7y agoUsing a device that gets regular security updates.
- jethro_tell 7y agoIs that enough? It doesn't really seem like there is a lot you can do in the way of hardening a phone, either android or iPhone.