By As Android’s numbers continue to skyrocket, the threat of malware, viruses, trojans and the lot grows by the day. Eventually we will have to face the fact that Android will be a target of these mischievous developers and we will need to take the steps to protect ourselves.
NetQin has just released beta 4.2 of their anti-virus software for Android devices running 2.X+. There are two ways of installing this free application:
- via their website
- QR Code below
Regardless of whether or not you feel your device needs protection remember that common sense goes a long way!
install an antivirus? hah! i AM the antivirus!
So how does this compare to Lookout?
How does this compare to Lookout? Any added benefits?
Don’t fall for the hype, Android is Linux, and Linux is safer than other operating systems. Read this article to understand why this article isn’t really true:
http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/188
who says this is any good at all ?? Why should we trust this on our phones ?
i’d rather play it safer and NOT download this, atleast i know when i’m downloading a game what EXACTLY it does, i’m not going to install this thing and give it total and utter control because it says it will “protect” me, the only way your gonna get infected is if your installing absolutely everything you seee and don’t verify what it actually is…
@Covert
My sentiments exactly. People should check out the publishers of the application and make firm decisions on the risks of installing an anti virus application with lots of rights to your device.
I was excited to see an anti-virus/malware app.
However, I do not know the publisher.
User beware…
Or you can just Root your phone and do NAND backups every so often. Just like with a PC, the best protection is to use common sense and know what you are downloading. If that doesn’t work have a backup to goto.
NetQin is one of the larger companies that develops apps for Android with 300 employees. However, a security company based in China doesn’t exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling. The fact that they provide 68% of the mobile security services in China makes me think it could be a Chinese government company designed to get information from and track their citizens. And now they could do the same for US citizens. No thanks!
The chinese make everything. Milk and dog food to name a couple. How many died from those?
@Keefers,
There were quite a few kids that got sick and some died, I believe, from tainted milk in china. So, yeah.
… wait… your comment was sarcasm… damn text not having context. haha
Covert: I think you’re being extremely naive’ in thinking you know EXACTLY what you’re downloading everytime. Nobody knows for sure unless your the developer or you know a particular developer has a good track record. I think its better to err on the cautious side myself but of course that’s just my opinion. There will always be skeptics regarding anything in life.
Perfect example of the biggest weakness in Android. I love it, love the concept, and support it all the way. But without any oversight over the coding (I expect someone out there is reviewing after the fact though) something could be hidden in any application that opens us up for maliciousness. Full openness is not always good.
lookout anyone??i use that and it works just fine…and not really obtrusive or memory hogging
samsung fascinate btw
I’m not naive but Kudos to Jacob and Bob. I believe being naive to think that you can trust developers that might be great now but later get pissed off because of some wild situation then turns on the android user. I’m for protection but I do not have any trust toward the “Sleeping Giant” (which we all know it’s no longer sleeping).
Here’s some common sense for you.. A fool and his money are soon parted.. there’s a sucker born every minute… I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain… don’t worry, be happy… I can do this all day.
This is got nothing to do with fear but common sense. An open platform such as Android WILL be exploited by crooks looking to profit from the information stored on your phone. And lets face it, more and more people are using their phones for everything from banking, checking stock prices, updating their portfolios, to monitoring their kids walking to school. I hardly ever go on my laptop at home anymore and as phones continue to get smarter, more and more punks will be looking to exploit our phones for their own personal gain. So again, it’s got nothing to do with fear but common sense. If you’re a teenager and only use you phone to text your friends and play a game or two there’s not much to worry about. But if you use your phone like most adults, to help make your everyday life easier by utilizing a number of apps, then it would be wise to have some type of protection.
Sorry for all the typos guys! Hey Admin…how about setting up your comments section so you can “edit” your comments. Ya know, like every other forum on the web lets you do!