Unpopular Opinion or New Ideas

[L_Wolf]

Google has just invited anyone with the skills to start a massive hacking campaign through Android OS. Plain & simple!! 👎

Malwarebytes has been crippled on the Android OS now. Scanning app's & incoming online material is only a third of what this Company does for any & every customer of the mobile type. Think about it as though the Spam phone calls & text/SMS are also being watched & guarded from hacker's. Thereby the other ⅔ we get with our subscription.

Basic search using any choice of browser will show almost any app/apk found on Google Play, can be downloaded elsewhere. Google wants to be in control of everything. So isn't it possible to start offering the same subscription to the service without Google Play? 🤔 

Some subscriptions are only offered on the "Developer's" website. Here on Malwarebytes site we can access our subscription & make changes already. So why can't we get updates from the site as well & keep the service without any Play Store?

As contracts might be involved, a lesser secure version could still be aquired on on the Play Store. Before Christmas, there were even "fake" sale's of a # of security services, including Malwarebytes! Google was for a few redirecting to those phony site's even! By going to the source itself just ensures that it is indeed a genuine service.

Actually can Google Play Store even claim such? 🤔 How many removals took place on "that" secure & regularly inspected site over... the last month? How many going back since the last major update across their domain? 🤔

1 Page is by far easier to copy & manipulate to pass for the legitimate. Usually through the ad's & additional byte's of data being used as camouflage. Even through a JPEG file if not mistaken! Yet given the # of changing pages & redirect through the categories of Malwarebytes.com it's going to take more than a simple hack of any who are into that sort of practice. 

0 ad's to hide in/with & directly from the source is a step towards a global episode. Brought on by 1 company that seeks to rival a certain social media site while playing with whatever is left of a free internet! Android OS is a large # & now stand's only partially protected 😱

 

[Amaroq_Starwind]

Might want to bring @exile360 in on this.

[Porthos]

On 2/27/2019 at 4:45 AM, L_Wolf said:

Google has just invited anyone with the skills to start a massive hacking campaign through Android OS. Plain & simple!! 👎

Of course, they did. Many companies do that to find the security holes and bugs they cannot find themselves. They pay good money for this info and then patch their products.

They have been doing this for years.

[Amaroq_Starwind]

Hmm... maybe Malwarebytes should join in on this endeavor, that way they can create protections against the exploits they find.
There's also an AI-driven supercomputer called Mayhem, which aims to find and patch exploits in software without human intervention. Cool stuff!
 

[L_Wolf]

In my opinion, it's alright to employ or reward "Red/White Hat" types whose purpose is to HELP security be security. Even as user's of this company & the various programs' put out, we should be reporting bug's or glitches found so that they can be secured! 

As I see it now, by disabling ANYTHING TO DO WITH SECURITY such as the removal of a scan (or scanning) as was done by Google to the Android OS, is not the same as testing for possible bug's of the latest update. Malwarebytes was able to scan both phone calls & SMS/MMS coming in to prevent further misuses of the viral nature. Given the sophisticated ways to implement any number of troubling programming for illegal means, without having a way to know it's not safe is like an open door to the public. With mobile devices having the interchangeable ability they do of wireless capability, essentially it's like a plague now that can mutate & adapt to travel anywhere!

A simple picture from a trusted contact could be faked now. Once the mobile is compromised, because it is mobile it is able to be carried into bank's, military site's, neighborhood's & so much more. Just depends on what is going on with the new programming. No common person will be able to tell if they have only what they see or if they are now helping transport something else altogether. Depending on the design as well as the method, any information on the mobile becomes a target. Any hardware within becomes available to someone else. Where does it end? Who actually has control of the device we take steps to protect when there is no allowable methods to ensure it is protected? 

Public Service Announcements that warn of basic security measures like children are taught about "stranger danger" becomes null & void if just 1 corrupted item finds itself in the wild. Without learning to read as a programmable device does, with the necessary means to assess the information being read, it is essentially the same as my original view of inviting anyone that wants to, hack away using Android OS as a vessel. 

All it takes is a daily read of any news source to get updated on yet another item to be suspicious of. If security testing is needed, taking out part of the problem is not ensuring that more will not get past if a temporary fix is not employed during. We have no bandage on a scrape now. The Android OS is exposed to crude yet possible tampering that may imitate another well known  "computer OS" whose updates created more trouble than they fixed on a monthly basis to the point of acceptance while giving up on the idea of being secured.

 

[Amaroq_Starwind]

Here's an idea; create a fork of Android (it is open-source, after all), designed with the sole purpose of being as secure as absolutely possible while compromising on the user experience as little as possible. It could be called... Jawbreaker.

Once I've done enough class in college, I might start working on this, or contribute to its development if it's already in progress by then.