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Halfblind

Can Android Smartphones Get Viruses?

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You have probably come across a virus message or 2 while browsing the web though your smartphone. The question is can an Android device even get a virus in the first place? Are those browser messages something to be worried about? Is there a way to prevent them in the future? What is it with these anyways?

 

Chrome-virus-spam-download-840x745.jpg

Picture courtesy of the internet...

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Yes they can ,I'm not an android user but from what I've seen on PC's that looks very much like ransomware

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As far as i know i heard that there is malicious virus for android device, those screens looks like phishing to me, so the best thing you could do when you see a site that display something like that it's to just close the site, since it just want's you to click on the "remove virus" to start downloading on your device malicious crap.

Some popular antivirus such as avast have mobile versions, so you could check em out

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Yes, you can get viruses on anything. But these messages from a website apparently called onlinewanderingappmobiappsherosomething are fake. Do not follow their instructions.

 

My advice would be to get an ad blocker to prevent such phishing messages from appearing in the future.

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Yes if its a pop up its most very likely phishing. Though if this keeps happening everytime you use your internet browser on your phone theres probably already something lurking in the background. I believe there is anti-virus you can get for android. 

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Why is it these phishing sites are still so utterly incapable of writing without making spelling and grammar mistakes?

 

You'd think in this day and age the easiest way to spot a fake site wouldn't still be "spot the typo".

 

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1 hour ago, Bauul said:

Why is it these phishing sites are still so utterly incapable of writing without making spelling and grammar mistakes?

 

You'd think in this day and age the easiest way to spot a fake site wouldn't still be "spot the typo".

 

 

I'd say most of these people are overseas and their first language isn't English. It's like with the elsagate videos, people from places like Thailand mass produce these kinds of things without worrying too much about the details because there are still idiots out there who will buy into these phishing scams. 

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Any computer or OS can technically get a virus, so yes, Android can.  And since it's gotten more popular, I'm willing to bet Android-based malware is slowly on the rise.

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Even the PSP could get viruses, if it was homebrew enabled. If you got the wrong kind of file on it, it could brick it. For Android, how much damage it can do probably depends on if you've rooted it.

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For Sure that one looks fake.  But at your leisure you should think about an antivirus program.  Maybe free ones like AVG Free, Or?.  They do sometimes nag a bit to "upgrade" but there is no requirement to do so.  I have used them for years for free. You will see malware and viruses on the rise in the future on Android.  Just like stated above by YukiRaven.

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Yes, your phone can be infected with malicious code. But the picture you've presented is a phishing scam, so just close your browser. I use bitdefender on my phone so I haven't had any issues, or you could download a free antivirus for it. 

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5 hours ago, Halfblind said:

The question is can an Android device even get a virus in the first place?

I'd say so, considering fake pop-ups like that exist which are clearly designed to trick users into installing malicious software.

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Well for one thing, Google would never tell you if you have a virus or not. Secondly, I'd say anything that is a computer could get a virus. The question is whether or not anyone would bother trying to do that. I think your main concern is malicious apps more so than traditional viruses but I'm not 100% on that. Just do what I do and use your phone the same way you use your computer. Safe browsing and use common sense.

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8 hours ago, Bauul said:

Why is it these phishing sites are still so utterly incapable of writing without making spelling and grammar mistakes?

 

You'd think in this day and age the easiest way to spot a fake site wouldn't still be "spot the typo".

 

Or a broken-ass translation, if you're not from an English-speaking country...

-----------------------------

So the question is: should you install an antivirus? I've heard that they severely slow down the phone and all that. But at the same time I wouldn't really like Chinese hackers to hack into my secret memes collection.

 

edit: Jello, about 1337 out of 1488 on the dankness scale. :]

Edited by bzzrak

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45 minutes ago, bzzrak said:

Or a broken-ass translation, if you're not from an English-speaking country...

-----------------------------

So the question is: should you install an antivirus? I've heard that they severely slow down the phone and all that. But at the same time I wouldn't really like Chinese hackers to hack into my secret memes collection.

Just how dank are these memes we're talking about? Dank dank?

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Yep, like everyone else already said, you can. There was also a fake app last year or so on the store called Elite which was basically malware, it deleted your contacts and files, and could not be easily uninstalled. And I myself supposedly had malware on my previous SD card somehow.

 

As about that virus detection pop up from Google, that's fake, so make sure you don't do anything.

Edited by Agent6

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Thanks everyone for your advice. I am actually a little more careless when using my mobile device because it is easier to revert the OS to factory settings than it is to reinstall windows on the PC. I have been seeing these fake google screens for years. I simply exit the browser when this happens and not worry about it. Years ago I saw one that said that my battery was infected. I did not know that my battery could get a virus.

 

After seeing various web sites pop up fake virus scanners or prompting me to install a certain virus software to clean my PC I know not to do what they say. I learned that the hard way. Any good suggestions for a good ad blocker for Android?

 

On an additional note my brother had a computer once. He had 3 antivirus software apps installed at the same time. He could not use wifi, go on the internet, or LAN it with any other computer because of this thing called "group policy". He wasn't even allowed to change his firewall settings. Stupid huh.

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6 minutes ago, Halfblind said:

Any good suggestions for a good ad blocker for Android?

 

On an additional note my brother had a computer once. He had 3 antivirus software apps installed at the same time. He could not use wifi, go on the internet, or LAN it with any other computer because of this thing called "group policy". He wasn't even allowed to change his firewall settings. Stupid huh.

Personally I just turn javascript off. That seems to break a ton of shit, and these days the shit that can screw your stuff up is also within that same ton-o-shit so it all works out. Most sites still load text content without javascript being enabled at the very least. There are several browser apps that are built as an ad-blocker browser. Since Chrome on Android doesn't support addons or extensions (why the hell not I don't know) you have to use a whole browser dedicated to blocking ads instead.

 

About your brother's computer... you should not run 3 antivirus at the same time. They conflict and will be fighting over control. Pick 1 that is the best and uninstall the others. It's good to also have an antimalware though such as MalwareBytes. I personally use MSE for real time antivirus and then I use MalwareBytes free for on-demand malware scans. Never had a problem with not being able to use things on the computer.

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You can get viruses on Android but only by manually downloading an app or a .apk of a virus pretending to be something else.

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On 1/2/2018 at 10:30 PM, MrD!zone said:

that website is a fake popup.

Thanks captain obvious. 

 

1 hour ago, Grimosaur said:

You can get viruses on Android but only by manually downloading an app or a .apk of a virus pretending to be something else.

You forgot the mention of the mother of all causes: PORN . 

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3 minutes ago, royaldj said:

You forgot the mention of the mother of all causes: PORN . 

Christian sites are more likely to be infected than porn sites, because they're notorious for having poor security.

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Just now, cyan0s1s said:

Christian sites are more likely to be infected than porn sites, because they're notorious for having poor security.

They don't need security. God watches over them. 

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1 minute ago, cyan0s1s said:

Christian sites are more likely to be infected than porn sites, because they're notorious for having poor security.

You can say that again. Trying to directory traverse them is like impossible, they got that shit on lockdown.

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15 minutes ago, royaldj said:

You forgot the mention of the mother of all causes: PORN . 

Yeah but you still have to actually run the files it makes you download, It's not like it automatically infects the whole phone the instant it downloads.

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24 minutes ago, Grimosaur said:

Yeah but you still have to actually run the files it makes you download, It's not like it automatically infects the whole phone the instant it downloads.

I have a Jewish friend who not only has the largest penny collection I've ever seen but claims that he can create a virus that does not need to be executed to start infecting a device. 

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18 minutes ago, royaldj said:

I have a Jewish friend who not only has the largest penny collection I've ever seen but claims that he can create a virus that does not need to be executed to start infecting a device. 

I'm beginning to think you aren't being sincere.

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3 minutes ago, mrthejoshmon said:

I'm beginning to think you aren't being sincere.

I'm serious. My Jewish friend claims that his virus likes to target large bank accounts. 

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