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New Android malware uses WhatsApp to spread
https://techxplore.com ^ | APRIL 8, 2021 | by Sarah Katz , Tech Xplore

Posted on 04/08/2021 12:33:55 PM PDT by Red Badger

click here to read article


1 posted on 04/08/2021 12:33:55 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Swordmaker; ShadowAce; dayglored; SunkenCiv

Ping!.................


2 posted on 04/08/2021 12:34:29 PM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: Red Badger

Great. Just great.


3 posted on 04/08/2021 1:37:14 PM PDT by sauropod (Chance favors the prepared mind.)
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To: Red Badger

I have a crap L51 android I have to use for work. I almost never use it except to charge it and delete some texts and the occasional voicemail and update the OS when it sends an alert.

I never browse on it in Firefox.
I have disabled FB, Chrome, never turned on Whatsapp

Almost every day I see a new “app” has been installed, with a little green or yellow munchkin bug icon.

Anyone know how to stop this?


4 posted on 04/08/2021 4:00:51 PM PDT by BTerclinger (MAGA! (See my FR page for links to MDs & RX for pre-hospital Covid treatment & prophylaxis).)
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To: BTerclinger

Apps install w/out knowledge nor consent? That’s a whole lot of wrong. Can’t help you with the particulars of the droid, though


5 posted on 04/08/2021 4:07:56 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: Red Badger

I trashed whatsapp 3 months ago


6 posted on 04/08/2021 4:16:17 PM PDT by Muhammy
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To: Red Badger

Thanks for the heads up. I live in Central America where WhatsApp is like the national phone company. You can’t really get by without it. However, I have no desire to watch NetFlix so I would not be tempted to download the app.

Check Point, I believe, is the parent company of ZoneAlarm, the PC firewall software.


7 posted on 04/08/2021 5:50:45 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Chinese communism will look different once the masks come off.)
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To: OrangeHoof

Zone Alarm is still around?! wow, haven’t heard that name is a decade & 1/2...
(I think BlackIce was the same company, wasn’t it?)
Speaking of those... I wonder if they will ever get PeerGuardian back up and running.


8 posted on 04/08/2021 6:23:42 PM PDT by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: Bikkuri

I’m still (happily) on Windows 7 (with updates turned off for over two years). I’ve saved some old downloads and one was a firewall program from ZoneAlarm back when it was primarily selling firewall software. Nice simple effective program.

So I have the old program on my Win7 machine and it runs great. One time it asked me to upgrade and, when I did, it wanted to compete with my antivirus and antimalware programs, creating more trouble than it was worth so I uninstalled it and reinstalled the old simple software. That’s why I recognized the name CheckPoint.

Like some other products I’ve enjoyed, this probably got sold to a company that didn’t understand what they had and set about ruining it like yankees that buy up cajun food businesses only to kill them by yankeefying the product (been there, seen that).

One giant misnomer in business is that when a product says they’ve improved it, watch out. Sometimes it’s better but, just as often, it’s not which is why I won’t use Windows 10.


9 posted on 04/09/2021 12:28:25 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Chinese communism will look different once the masks come off.)
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To: OrangeHoof

With my “Winblows” experience (I started messing with it at 3.0), after about a week, I would uninstall.. reinstall DOS 6.whatever (last I had was 6.22)...
Was a monthly routine, install latest Windows.. then go back to DOS..

XP.. I gave up DOS.

ME.. (I was wishing DOS was still around :P) .. went back to XP

(Around 2000, switched to RedHat).. then back to XP.

Win2000 came around (great for multi-chip, not for gaming)... went back to XP (Linux was a PITA)..

Bounced between Linux and XP..

VISTA came out —> back to XP...

Win7 came out... loved it.

FORCED upgrade.... (re-installed Win7 from backup)...

Switched to Linux Mint (with back-up Win7 for games).. learned to dual-boot.

Been dual-boot since. (Mint deserted KDE.. experimented with several DEs.. liked NONE of themm..settled with Kubuntu).

Now, have to settle with WinBlows 10 and Kubuntu... :p
Have been keeping Kubuntu updated, but haven’t yet got to learn it yet (WINE, etc.).. but will be working on that.

I do miss Win7 though.


10 posted on 04/09/2021 3:24:21 AM PDT by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: OrangeHoof

btw.. missed many steps in there, but, you have the picture ;)


11 posted on 04/09/2021 3:27:09 AM PDT by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: BTerclinger; Swordmaker; dayglored; ShadowAce

It’s usually in ‘SETTINGS’ that you can choose manual or auto installation of new ‘apps’, usually under Privacy or Security................


12 posted on 04/09/2021 5:18:52 AM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: rdb3; JosephW; martin_fierro; Still Thinking; zeugma; Vinnie; ironman; Egon; raybbr; AFreeBird; ...

13 posted on 04/09/2021 5:23:47 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: Red Badger

I try to keep the apps to a bare minimum on my android for reasons of performance and storage. I usually pare down the apps every so often, throwing apps off that I don’t use regularly. This is just another reason to follow that strategy.


14 posted on 04/09/2021 6:11:04 AM PDT by Tallguy
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To: Bikkuri

All I needed to know was that Microsoft was forcing upgrades to Windows 10 in the middle of the night to know this was for Microsoft’s reasons, not their customers’. I came home late from work one night and there it was, switching over without my approval.

I killed the upgrade and disconnected my modem. When I rebooted, it told me the upgrade had not finished and would I like to continue. I clicked “no”. It then started a routine to uninstall the upgrade and return me to Windows 7. I sent Microsoft a sternly-worded (and likely ignored) e-mail about how this was a betrayal of customer confidence.

Someone even wrote a clever script to refuse any upgrade attempts to Win10 and I turned off the upgrade option (which I’m told is no option in Windows 10). Then I bought a CD copy of the Windows 7 operating system in case I needed it to reinstall. Haven’t needed it yet in two years despite all the warnings that my machine would go to hell once Win7 was no longer supported.

I gave Linux a try and could never get the hang of it. Besides, almost all the work-related machines I had to troubleshoot were running a version of Windows, not Linux. I don’t begrudge those who think Apple OS or Linux is better than Windows. They’re just not for me.


15 posted on 04/09/2021 8:50:17 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Chinese communism will look different once the masks come off.)
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To: Red Badger

NEVER EVER NEVER NEVER EVER Use Whats APP!

The chicoms are all over it. Along with the CIA and Ruskies. But seriously. Don’t use it.

I’ve been using telegram. I know not perfect, but still better than whats app.

Oh and signal, guess who pushes that? The NSA. And guess who can read the messages? The NSA.


16 posted on 04/09/2021 11:59:05 AM PDT by for-q-clinton
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To: Red Badger

Thank you, I may have found the setting!


17 posted on 04/15/2021 2:09:01 PM PDT by BTerclinger (MAGA! (See my FR page for links to MDs & RX for pre-hospital Covid treatment & prophylaxis).)
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To: Red Badger

I couldn’t find it when I went through everything on Settings/ Privacy or Settings/Security but when I searched “install” I fund a Special App Access / Install Unknown Apps, and in there, 4-5 of my apps were set to be allowed to install other apps! (turned them off)

Included GoodRX, Drugs.com and Dropbox.

Will see if this does it, thank you again.


18 posted on 04/15/2021 2:12:38 PM PDT by BTerclinger (MAGA! (See my FR page for links to MDs & RX for pre-hospital Covid treatment & prophylaxis).)
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