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I'm guessing you don't use Android at all, but it is very difficult to accidentally install something outside of the play store. I would even say it is tricky

I'm guessing you don't use Android at all, but it is very difficult to accidentally install something outside of the play store. I would even say it is tricky to purposely install something outside of the play store.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
I did from 2010 to 2015 and while I didn't have a problem, my dad was able to get malware on his. He actually was iOS from 2010 to 2014 then android 2015 to 2018, and then he kept messing his device up so I told him I'm not helping him unless he goes to iOS. All I know is I needed a 100% guarantee the device won't be tampered with by random people for my business and that other than turning it off and on, there was no tech support needed. To me, this meant going with Apple.
- Apocryphon 6y ago
  Do you know the specific method he got malware on his device? Because people assume that Android malware are from secondary illicit app stores, and not just malware that was not caught on Google's inferior official Play Store, or from exploits at the OS level.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    No, I didn't bother researching that. My dad very well might have gone in the options settings and disabled some stuff if the WhatsApp message instructions told him to to get something he wanted. He has, for some unknown reason, the desire to trust all the things he shouldn't, and for him I need a device that simply can't be touched. Especially since nowadays your financial accounts and everything is secured via SMS 2FA.
    - Apocryphon 6y ago
      Fair enough, but again the whole anti-alternate app stores narrative hinges on the supposition that these app stores will be a significant source of malware. I'm wondering if there are any Android security studies that proves or disproves that point.
      - nodamage 6y ago
        Yes, Google publishes a security report that indicates that devices that side-load apps have an 8x higher malware incidence compared to devices that only use the Play Store. (https://source.android.com/security/reports/Google_Android_Security_2018_Report_Final.pdf https://source.android.com/security/reports/Google_Android_S...) As an example, HummingBad infected 85 million devices primarily via direct-download on malicious adult websites. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-has-infected-85-million-devices-and-makes-its-creators-300000-a-month/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-has-infec...)
        Apocryphon 6y ago
        So it looks like allowing users to easily sideload apps, let alone direct download and install binaries from mobile web, is problematic. Their stats on third-party app stores seems more scanty. > In 2018, hostile downloaders made up 22.0% of all sideloaded PHAs, making this the third most prevalent category, as in 2017. While this category accounted for 0.39% of all sideloaded apps in 2017, it is down to 0.20% in 2018, a sharp decline. Last year, Trojans were particularly targeting devices in India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. > The prevalence of hostile downloaders is due to a combination of legitimate third-party stores with poor security setups that distribute PHAs, fake stores that are built specifically for spreading PHAs, pre-installed apps that slipped through the security scans of OEMs, and plain apps that pretend to (or actually do) offer user-wanted features while downloading PHAs in the background.

lotsofpulp 6y ago

I did from 2010 to 2015 and while I didn't have a problem, my dad was able to get malware on his. He actually was iOS from 2010 to 2014 then android 2015 to 2018, and then he kept messing his device up so I told him I'm not helping him unless he goes to iOS. All I know is I needed a 100% guarantee the device won't be tampered with by random people for my business and that other than turning it off and on, there was no tech support needed. To me, this meant going with Apple.

Apocryphon 6y ago
Do you know the specific method he got malware on his device? Because people assume that Android malware are from secondary illicit app stores, and not just malware that was not caught on Google's inferior official Play Store, or from exploits at the OS level.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  No, I didn't bother researching that. My dad very well might have gone in the options settings and disabled some stuff if the WhatsApp message instructions told him to to get something he wanted. He has, for some unknown reason, the desire to trust all the things he shouldn't, and for him I need a device that simply can't be touched. Especially since nowadays your financial accounts and everything is secured via SMS 2FA.
  - Apocryphon 6y ago
    Fair enough, but again the whole anti-alternate app stores narrative hinges on the supposition that these app stores will be a significant source of malware. I'm wondering if there are any Android security studies that proves or disproves that point.
    - nodamage 6y ago
      Yes, Google publishes a security report that indicates that devices that side-load apps have an 8x higher malware incidence compared to devices that only use the Play Store. (https://source.android.com/security/reports/Google_Android_Security_2018_Report_Final.pdf https://source.android.com/security/reports/Google_Android_S...) As an example, HummingBad infected 85 million devices primarily via direct-download on malicious adult websites. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-has-infected-85-million-devices-and-makes-its-creators-300000-a-month/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-has-infec...)
      - Apocryphon 6y ago
        So it looks like allowing users to easily sideload apps, let alone direct download and install binaries from mobile web, is problematic. Their stats on third-party app stores seems more scanty. > In 2018, hostile downloaders made up 22.0% of all sideloaded PHAs, making this the third most prevalent category, as in 2017. While this category accounted for 0.39% of all sideloaded apps in 2017, it is down to 0.20% in 2018, a sharp decline. Last year, Trojans were particularly targeting devices in India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. > The prevalence of hostile downloaders is due to a combination of legitimate third-party stores with poor security setups that distribute PHAs, fake stores that are built specifically for spreading PHAs, pre-installed apps that slipped through the security scans of OEMs, and plain apps that pretend to (or actually do) offer user-wanted features while downloading PHAs in the background.