Androids and thier biggest security flaw

[DJjoey0812]

Android we love them except for one thing... When they get stolen. Why is it that apple you can track your phone and they cant hard reset it, android on the other hand you can just hard reset it poof there goes your phone gone and in another persons hands for free. So you tell me have you had this issue? should it be addressed by the community and brought fourth so we can get change so our phones we work hard for aren't just snatched from us

[Roswell]

Android bootloaders are semi-open by design. 

 

Do you want security or do you want the ability to install your own OS/fiddle with root access? Gotta pick one.

[OhioYJ]

Personally I wouldn't buy a phone I can't unlock and install another OS to. In fact I haven't bought a device in over a decade that wasn't immediately wiped and a custom OS installed after purchase. Posting this from a rooted 8T right now running LOS.  

 

Even if it was stolen with a locked bootloader in stock form a theif could wipe it and start over. Heck they could change the IMEI. 

[Arika]

34 minutes ago, DJjoey0812 said:

So you tell me have you had this issue?

No, because i have never lost my phone, because i'm a responsible adult.

[Applefreak]

33 minutes ago, DJjoey0812 said:

Android we love them except for one thing... When they get stolen. Why is it that apple you can track your phone and they cant hard reset it, android on the other hand you can just hard reset it poof there goes your phone gone and in another persons hands for free. So you tell me have you had this issue? should it be addressed by the community and brought fourth so we can get change so our phones we work hard for aren't just snatched from us

The reason you can more easily track an iphone is because of spyware that you will have a hard time turning off. Not something I really want in a device of any kind. As for tracking a phone in general, it is not that difficult but will depend heavily on the authorities will to actually help you out. Even if said thief would replace the sim card, or even wipe the phone, as long as the antenna firmware is the same, it can be located within a radius. Furthermore, if said thief were to enable gps, said information would be recorded and send to google. Together with this data and the signal strength from the antennas you can track your phone within a couple of feet. Well the authorities could, you are not allowed to but it would be possible.

[DJjoey0812]

2 hours ago, Roswell said:

Android bootloaders are semi-open by design. 

 

Do you want security or do you want the ability to install your own OS/fiddle with root access? Gotta pick one.

So you're telling me in this day of age it's impossible to have both? I get it I do, but you are saying we cant have a in between? or the ability to change os from a flash where you have to get past your own security to allow it on your own device? the issue isnt that I can flash a diffrent os the issue is the ability to strait factory reset or delete data without passing security first. If I took your phone I can just volume up and power, boot menu and reset the phone. I'm proposing to where we have the ability to lock the boot menu, so it's at least harder then swiping it away, you'll have to have the knowlege and time to fiddle with it to get past my own locked bootloader. I've always had android and love it but... At least add a little beef to it so it cant be stolen and wiped without a password for heaven sakes.

[DJjoey0812]

2 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

Personally I wouldn't buy a phone I can't unlock and install another OS to. In fact I haven't bought a device in over a decade that wasn't immediately wiped and a custom OS installed after purchase. Posting this from a rooted 8T right now running LOS.  

 

Even if it was stolen with a locked bootloader in stock form a theif could wipe it and start over. Heck they could change the IMEI. 

The point is a basic person wouldn't be able to grab you phone and reset it by googling how to hard reset a android phone and do it in 2 seconds, as least put a password on the boot loader or keep the factory reset only inside of being in your settings instead of on the bootloader

[OhioYJ]

18 minutes ago, DJjoey0812 said:

The point is a basic person wouldn't be able to grab you phone and reset it by googling how to hard reset a android phone and do it in 2 seconds, as least put a password on the boot loader or keep the factory reset only inside of being in your settings instead of on the bootloader

What are you going to do about the factory flashing tools available for many Androids? Many of these work without the phone even being on / booted, and are readily available.

 

It becomes a game of cat and mouse. A work around or exploit will be found, and then this just becomes the new DRM. It just made life more difficult for legitimate users, and doesn't do anything for the "bad guys". At least that's my thought on it.  Another random thought, It's likely still awful for the used market, and the environment, as I don't want to even consider a used phone because then I have to worry about getting device that maybe that person didn't wipe their password from. It's just more e-waste. As we already see these posts about iPhones (real or not).

 

Your data is protected, that's the important part right?

[SansVarnic]

7 hours ago, DJjoey0812 said:

So you tell me have you had this issue? should it be addressed by the community and brought fourth so we can get change so our phones we work hard for aren't just snatched from us

Never had this issue. My phone stays on my person at all times, and good luck to anyone wanting to steal it, at least from me [I have unique skills].

But anyhow I see what you are getting at, and I encourage you to do what you can if you feel it's the right direction to go. Me, I don't think I have the what you're looking for to help.

[Commodus]

14 hours ago, Applefreak said:

The reason you can more easily track an iphone is because of spyware that you will have a hard time turning off. Not something I really want in a device of any kind. As for tracking a phone in general, it is not that difficult but will depend heavily on the authorities will to actually help you out. Even if said thief would replace the sim card, or even wipe the phone, as long as the antenna firmware is the same, it can be located within a radius. Furthermore, if said thief were to enable gps, said information would be recorded and send to google. Together with this data and the signal strength from the antennas you can track your phone within a couple of feet. Well the authorities could, you are not allowed to but it would be possible.

This is explicitly false.

 

You can more easily track them because Apple has a strictly optional tool called Find My. You don't have to enable it when you set up an iPhone; disabling it is literally a single toggle away. Apple even tells you to disable Find My before you wipe a device to give it to someone else. From what I've seen, there's nothing else baked into iOS that would make it easier to track than an Android phone.

 

In fact, Google makes an Android equivalent called Find My Device — you just have to install it if it isn't already present.

[Kc7vwc]

On 2/1/2022 at 3:06 PM, DJjoey0812 said:

Android we love them except for one thing... When they get stolen. Why is it that apple you can track your phone and they cant hard reset it, android on the other hand you can just hard reset it poof there goes your phone gone and in another persons hands for free. So you tell me have you had this issue? should it be addressed by the community and brought fourth so we can get change so our phones we work hard for aren't just snatched from us

There's a Google service called "Find My Device" that has been pre-installed on all my Motorola devices. With it, you can track your device, sound a remote alarm on it, or wipe it. 

 

And if a device is stolen & not recovered, unless the thief is VERY tech savvy, they can't do much with it. (As long as you actually put a password/PIN/pattern on it like you should). 

If you do a hardware factory reset, on the next boot, Android needs verification of the last account the device was logged into. Without that, it just sits at that first install screen, unable to be used. 

Some devices have been cracked with workarounds for this, but it's usually a very tedious process, and requires USB Debugging to be enabled already. 

 

After that, if you report your devices as stolen to your carrier, it's IMEI will be blacklisted, and can't log into any carrier networks after that. (I know this first hand from trying to use a lost S9.) 

 

A properly secured device is not really worth much to a thief, and certainly isn't just a free device for them. 

An unsecured device, on the other hand, IS a free phone for them. 

[szalony9szymek]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:06 PM, DJjoey0812 said:

Android we love them except for one thing... When they get stolen. Why is it that apple you can track your phone and they cant hard reset it, android on the other hand you can just hard reset it poof there goes your phone gone and in another persons hands for free. So you tell me have you had this issue? should it be addressed by the community and brought fourth so we can get change so our phones we work hard for aren't just snatched from us

there is frp, it's shit but exists and a simple thief might not be smart enough to get around it