Mobile banking on Android phone is secure?

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newbestgadget

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I am using net banking but now I am thinking to start mobile banking but I heard that it is not secure. Is this true?
 
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russellO

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If your phone is rooted and you have been installing apps from unknown sources, other than Google Play, then I wouldn't try it.

I have used FNB mobile app for a long time but my phone is unrooted and only legit apps. The banking apps have a lot of regulations etc that they have to adhere to so it SHOULD be very secure.
 
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CranialBlaze

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Don't go blame rooting, rooting makes your device no less secure, unless of course you're an idiot and just grant every single app root access without even looking at it. Root may open up an additional level of access, but that level is still protected by an approval system, obviously not foolproof but any virus thats trying to steal your banking info would only need root level access if you went and made your banking app a system app. As a user app it would need no more permission or access than the app itself to be able to steal its info, having a rooted device does in no way aid this, it can in fact help prevent it if you install security applications that have root level access which will allow them to detect and prevent attacks sooner and more effectively be able to handle them.

It is true though that non-market apps can be a problem if your on 4.1.2 or lower, in 4.2.1 they added a filter for unknown source apps as well to check for malicious code and do security validations, so it has been made somewhat safer to use unofficial sources, as legitimate ones are popping up more often, GetJar and Amazon now doing a global rollout, they are in fact very legitimate sources and likely as safe as the official market, but they are still unofficial and considered unknown sources, although google may reconsider that for the amazon roll..

Ultimately its about as safe as a desktop, mobile devices are as prone to viruses, but those are more likely to affect your phone bill than your banking, with all the apps being different it would need to be a specifically targeted virus to be able to steal info from it, but in this day and age nothing is truly safe, just don't download apps from dodgy sites and torrents and your should be about as safe as anyone else
 
Bismuth

Bismuth

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Have used Mobile Banking with no issues so far, and my Android is indeed rooted. Like others have said, if your device is rooted, just be sure of where you download non-market apps from.

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Shayd

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In a nutshell if you are sticking to apps on the play store then don't worry
 
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CranialBlaze

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Shayd said:
In a nutshell if you are sticking to apps on the play store then don't worry
Click to expand...

Not 100% true, google only recently stepped up its game, within the last month it removed 40k apps that contained or where purely malware/spyware or some form of infection.
 
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reneg8or

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CranialBlaze said:
Not 100% true, google only recently stepped up its game, within the last month it removed 40k apps that contained or where purely malware/spyware or some form of infection.
Click to expand...

One's defences should include using only the stock standard ROM, adding Bitdefender and never downloading even approved apps unless absolutely necessary. Even then, don't just allow these apps liberties without first ensuring that it is safe.

As safe as Linux is, Android is a recipe for disaster. Its weaknesses and threats have been properly documented and reported but the mindless stampede is so huge that nobody notices the predators awaiting them................
 
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CranialBlaze

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reneg8or said:
One's defences should include using only the stock standard ROM, adding Bitdefender and never downloading even approved apps unless absolutely necessary. Even then, don't just allow these apps liberties without first ensuring that it is safe.

As safe as Linux is, Android is a recipe for disaster. Its weaknesses and threats have been properly documented and reported but the mindless stampede is so huge that nobody notices the predators awaiting them................
Click to expand...

I can agree with some of what you say here, however not Bitdefender, thats completely useless. You are most certainly better off without it, its more likely to call for a virus than stop it.
You need the same level of caution as with a normal desktop PC, I know dozens of people on custom ROMs and that has not caused any infection problems, depending on the ROM it could theoretically increase security depending on which of Googles bugs was fixed, its all about due diligence, downloading every and any app is just a bad idea, if it seems to good to be true it probably is, and if its some silly joke up like that XRay camera,then seriously.

Read the reviews, check the ratings, check the number of download snad version numbers, also check out the dev if your not sure, older things and higher version number are more likely to be true, but then again if they went through 100 versions in a week then its probably just a crappy product to begin with, obviously, custom rom or not be careful which apps you give SU access to, be extra vigilant with those.

These days your as likely to get nailed on iPhone as android, blackberry is probably safer, but thats more to do with the lack of cr@p anyone gives about it.
 
AlphaJohn

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Park@82 said:
Source?
Click to expand...

Maybe he is talking about http://arstechnica.com/security/201...google-play-downloaded-up-to-9-million-times/ ?

Security researchers have unearthed a family of malware for Android-based smartphones that's been downloaded as many as 9 million times from Google Play, the official distribution platform hosted on Google servers.

BadNews, as the library of malicious code has been dubbed, was folded in to at least 32 applications offered by four different developer accounts, according to a blog post published Friday by Android app provider Lookout Mobile Security. Handsets that run the poisoned apps connect to a rogue server every four hours and report several pieces of sensitive information, including the device phone number and its unique serial number, known as an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity. The command and control servers, which were still operational as of Friday, also force some phones to display prompts to install AlphaSMS, a trojan that racks up charges by sending text messages to pricey services.

The people behind the campaign were able to sneak BadNews past Google defenses by adding the malware library to innocuous apps after they had already been submitted to Google Play. That gave the appearance of trustworthiness to measures such Bouncer, the cloud-based service that scours Play for abusive apps. It was only later that the apps were updated to carry out the attacks. Figures provided by Google Play showed the targeted apps had been downloaded from 2 million to 9 million times. It's unclear how many of the downloads involved apps after they had been updated to include BadNews.

"You can't even say Google was at fault in this because Google very clearly scrutinized all these apps when they want in," Marc Rogers, principal security researcher for Lookout, told Ars. "But these guys were cunning enough to sit there for a couple of months doing absolutely nothing and then they pushed out the malware."

Rogers said it's not clear exactly how BadNews got folded in to the apps, which contained a mix of games, dictionaries, wall papers, and other programs aimed at English- and Russian-speaking users. At least some of them were spawned by the people controlling the malware. Rogers held out the possibility that legitimate developers of other apps may have been duped into adding the malicious library to their code bases.

Malicious programs have been an unfortunate feature of Google Play since it debuted as the Android Market in 2008. Meanwhile there have been virtually no widespread reports of malicious titles infiltrating Apple's competing App Store. As was the case with BadNews, Google promptly removes malicious apps once employees become aware they're being hosted for download on the company's servers. Google representatives declined to say if they have any plans in place to stem the tide and also declined to comment on the record about the Lookout report.

As Rogers said, the persistent problem of malware available in Google Play isn't easy to solve, and the success of BadNews only raises the bar.

"This is a wakeup call for us in the industry to say: 'Bad guys are smart as well and they'll take a look at the security models we put in place and they'll find weaknesses in them,'" he said. "That's exactly what they've done here."
Click to expand...
 
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reneg8or

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CranialBlaze said:
I can agree with some of what you say here, however not Bitdefender, thats completely useless. You are most certainly better off without it, its more likely to call for a virus than stop it.
You need the same level of caution as with a normal desktop PC, I know dozens of people on custom ROMs and that has not caused any infection problems, depending on the ROM it could theoretically increase security depending on which of Googles bugs was fixed, its all about due diligence, downloading every and any app is just a bad idea, if it seems to good to be true it probably is, and if its some silly joke up like that XRay camera,then seriously.

Read the reviews, check the ratings, check the number of download snad version numbers, also check out the dev if your not sure, older things and higher version number are more likely to be true, but then again if they went through 100 versions in a week then its probably just a crappy product to begin with, obviously, custom rom or not be careful which apps you give SU access to, be extra vigilant with those.

These days your as likely to get nailed on iPhone as android, blackberry is probably safer, but thats more to do with the lack of cr@p anyone gives about it.
Click to expand...

Why would I trust a stranger to compile a ROM? What does he include in that? How do I check it since I am a layman? Spyware has even been found in Ubuntu and Mint.

Why does Bitdefender get a top rating when it is so useless?

(I have experienced in My two decades of IT (1982 - 2001) that Norton is pretty useless, though!)
 
AlphaJohn

AlphaJohn

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K enough Scare mongering... time to answer OP. :D

2 things you have to remember about Android.
  1. All applications only have access to what you give it permissions for. You know that warning that pop's up yelling are you sure you wanna install it - READ IT!!!! if an app ask for more info that is needed for it to function, get rid of it, doesn't matter how cool it looks.
  2. Review your app's from time to time to see if something did not slip through that you did not notice. there are great apps that helps with this. One is AppBrain Ad detector and another is Lookouts version of said checks. I prefer Appnrain's more because of the heap of info it gives me.


Rooted or not, make sure you see what app ask for what permissions as none of em can do more than what you allow it to.
 
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CranialBlaze

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reneg8or said:
Why would I trust a stranger to compile a ROM? What does he include in that? How do I check it since I am a layman? Spyware has even been found in Ubuntu and Mint.

Why does Bitdefender get a top rating when it is so useless?

(I have experienced in My two decades of IT (1982 - 2001) that Norton is pretty useless, though!)
Click to expand...

Ahh, so you met the guys at samsung and HTC and Google who compile your ROMs? By that logic why are you using a phone, how can you trust the strangers compiling the official ROMs?
Look at samsung, all the ICS roms came with the pre-included eMMC bug, not quite a virus, but if at any point in time you decided to do a factory reset, even from within the official system menu you stood a 5% chance of turning your phone into a paperweight.

By the same logic, the custom ROM developer who is as a much a stranger than the guys at google, samsung and HTC, can easily put in viruses, but they certainly won't be around very long, obviously if you go and install a version 0.1rom from some unknown developer who has never done anything before then its your own problem when something bad happens, but you take guys like MIUI, Cyanogen, Paranoid who have been around for ages, who have dozens of thread and thousands of posts, as well as other developers praising their greatness, then how are they less trustworthy than the nameless, faceless developers at google, htc and samsung?

Ratings can be bought, how do you think norton gets top ratings. Last time I used Bitdefender I got viruses, at least norton, with the exception of V1 was better than that. Its a load of cr@p no matter how you spin it.
 
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CranialBlaze

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AlphaJohn said:
Maybe he is talking about http://arstechnica.com/security/201...google-play-downloaded-up-to-9-million-times/ ?
Click to expand...

Could be, I read dozens of articles each day on numerous topics, I sure as hek ain't going to save them all just in case one day I use the content is includes as a reference and need to link back to it. Google did that along with the removal of ad blockers and inclusion of the app checker thing they put in 4.2, all as part of their attempt to make the market more secure.
I know a few month back they also put in some automated scanning and approval system for app uploads.
 
Park@82

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