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Many Android anti-malware apps fail...
AV-Comparatives tested effectiveness of anti-malware apps for Android in their 2019 Android Test to help owners of Android devices distinguish between genuine, effective Android anti-malware apps, and dubious/ineffective ones.
They classified them as anti-malware apps that detect more or less than 30% of the malware. Even with that low hurdle, only 80 met the mark but 138 didn't...! :Surprise:
How did yours do? :Wink:
Read the report here.
RoHe
10 Elder
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March 14th, 2019 13:00
That sounds like a reasonable approach...
I put Malwarebytes and Opera Mini browser on my Android phone. I won't use Chrome. And I only gave Opera the bare minimum permissions. I tried Firefox for Android first, but it crashed too often so I switched to Opera Mini.
Some apps, including Opera, have a nasty habit of grabbing back all permissions, every time there's an update, so I've disabled automatic updates at Google Play. I manually check every so often for updates for installed apps, and only accept updates for the ones I actually use. And then I double-check permissions for everything that got updated.
It's a cat and mouse game...
joe53
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March 14th, 2019 13:00
I am using a Blackberry Key2, which has an android O.S. They only protection it comes with is the Blackberry app "Dtek" designed to protect privacy and permissions, so it's not really an antimalware (and was not assessed by AV-Comparatives in your linked article).
When I last researched the need for a separate antimalware for Blackberry phones, the consensus was they don't need one. My favorite bit of advice was "First, eliminate all Google apps before installing protection". Which doesn't help me or other android users, but I certainly agreed with the sentiment ...
My protection, apart from Dtek, lies in
- disabling all permissions that don't interfere with my phone or text messaging or bluetooth (for hands-free while driving)
- only use the phone and text messaging apps. Everything else is an excuse to harvest personal info.
- Since the only phone browser is Chrome I avoid using the internet on my phone. It's amazing how much internet stuff can wait til I get home to my computers.
So far,that strategy is working.