[Q] Is something like this possible? Android auto-wipe, selfdestruction or similiar? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

(first off sorry for my bad grammar)
Please read the whole post before answering!!
Do to recent events, and after many hours of searching without any useful result, I decided to try making a simple app which instantly deletes/wipes all the data (without any prompt or warning) on your phone (e.g. if your phone gets stolen or you get mugged and you had much sensitive data on it.), formats everything or even messes up the whole device (so the thief can't use it anymore).
But my question is, is something like this even possible?
1. Is it possible to initiate formatiing/wiping with the Android SDK or something else?
2. Is it possible to make an app which can't simply be deleted or still remains after flashing the device?
3.Is it possible to remotely "push" the app on your phone and execute it? (I'm thinking about installing it via the Google Play website and setting the trigger (?) for starting the app on every possible event to instantly delete everything??
4. I guess this needs at least Superuser-rights..?
5. Maybe "we" could start with just automatic and instant ext.-SD card fortmatting?
Another idea is to have two apps:
one which is installed and allowed by the superuser-thingy to execute the wipe
and another one which you can remotely download or "push" via web and doesn't need Superuser-rights, whichs triggers the first app to start wiping so the thief can't deny the superuser promt..
I think this would really help and would've helped me a lot because there are only a few apps like this but afaik they all need a SMS to be triggered but what if the thief takes out/swaps the SIM card?
In my opinion android would seriously need an app like this.

If ur device mfg is samsung Plz read about samsungdive ...i can remote lock .remote wipe .remote location of ur device ...... Search in google or xda samsungdive.com
Check ur setting >location and security .. Hare u find remote control
Sent from my GT-S6102 using Tapatalk 2

yea I know samsungdive but as far as I know it doesn't remain after flashing and I think you can't install if you have a custom rom.

A answer to one of those questions would be really cool (secret bump)

Related

[APP]Hydros TrackMe - Remote mobile access for all WinMo devices

Hydros TrackMe​
We all have gone through the moment of losing our phones and if you havent experienced it, consider yourself lucky, as it is a distressing moment and the worst part of it is if don't have a clue of where it is. Fortunately, next time you lose your phone, all you need to do is text your phone with a special command and magically your phone will text back to that number with information regarding it's area code, its gps coordinates and it's cell tower data which can be easily be uploaded to Hydros Sync Center and give you an exact pinpoint of where your phone is. So, the next time your neighbor or your colleague steals your phone (or accdentally "takes" it), you can find them and hold them accountable with the data in it. Speaking of data, in the emergency of you having seure data on the phone, the TrackMe app also completly wipes your phone so they won't be able to access the data. Other options for this neat app include locking down your phone and threatening them with cool messages (just so you can scare them into returning it). Either way, no matter how you use this lightweight app, you will be thanking the developer the next time you lose your phone and don't know where it is.​
System Requirements
All windows mobile phones! With or Without a gps
Features
Remote GPS tracking
Remote Hard Reset
Remote Soft Reset
Remote message sending - to threaten the robber
Remote lockdown with special password
Completly hidden from taskmanager so user can't terminate it
message to all cookers!​
Hey cookers out there! if you find this app interesting, I am giving you permission to put it on your rom (to make the world a secure place) and considering that it only takes up 63KB, this is perfect for any rom. Simply cook the cab with whatever kitchen you use and thats it. However, make sure you place it in startup so it is always running...even if you use the hard reset command from the remote access.​
DOWNLOAD LINK: http://hydrosmobile.webatu.com/Default.html​
hey guys. it's kinda my first time making an actual app for windows mobile which I have published so please let me know if I did an ok job. Also, please feel free to tell me how i can make it better. I am open to suggestions

[Q] How do we protect our Android device from the CelleBrite UFED?

Someone mentioned this in another thread, but this is a topic that should have it's own separate thread.
Some of you may have already read the news: Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops
Don't assume it won't come to your town.
I can't say I plan to do anything that would warrant police suspicion, yet I don't like the idea of anyone being able to easily pull data from my device. And we know cops won't be the only ones with these devices. So I've been wondering, how can we protect our Android devices from the CelleBrite UFED?
Check out this video that shows some of the features it has, keep in mind it does much more and can even extract DELETED data.
See the company's product page here: http://www.cellebrite.com/forensic-products/ufed-physical-pro.html
This research paper talks about the CelleBrite UFED and other extraction methods. (CelleBrite UFED is talked about starting on page 9.) I doubt there's a means to prevent all of those methods given some involve long term handling of the device, but CelleBrite UFED can extract data when a device is retained by the CelleBrite UFED user for a short period of time. It looks like HTC Android type devices can only be extracted from via the (micro)USB Port and it requires USB Storage and USB Debugging turned on. The CelleBrite UFED has to gain Root Access. It can get by screen passwords and root even a device that was not yet rooted.
There's another thread where someone was requesting a ROM that would not work with the CelleBrite UFED. I'm not sure how to make a ROM or anything else that would not work with the CelleBrite UFED without limiting certain features we all may use from time to time.
Over on Slashdot, someone said they hacked their device (Nexus One) to not do USB client mode. This is another option that would limit some features many of us may use.
So, how can we protect our privacy and our data? Does it mean sacrificing some features like USB storage mode?
The biggest problem is what's missing from Android itself. Meego might be protected but not Android.
You would need an encrypted boot loader that retains root for some users.
A kernel and os files that support different users so the default user is not root like Linux and a prompt with a password for superusers not just an Allow like now for Android.
Encryption libraries that would support truecrypt encryption of both internal and external (SD card) encryption in toto not just individual files.
A true trash system that overwrites files like srm in linux and sswap for wiping the swap file after every system reboot.
Ultimately I don't see it happening. In theory if you were running Ubuntu on your phone then yes cellbrite would just crap out not knowing what to do with your phone. Same possibly with meego. But then no real app support, no navigation and driver support is crap even for ROMs using the same os let alone a different OS like true linux.
It's amazing how many don't even bother deleting thumbnails hanging around on their computers or securely wiping files on their computer. Same with swap files retaining passwords or even website cookies that have the same password as their computer.
Best thing to do, don't keep anything that could be bad on your phone. Use a cloud system or home server sync that requires a seperate login every time and keeps no local files. Or as I do, encrypt the hell out of anything you find valuable, which currently is only my complete backups...
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
This is where that cheap Boost Mobile phone comes in, or any other prepay phone. Just hand the officer that one. Store your personal data on your smartphone.
chbennett said:
Best thing to do, don't keep anything that could be bad on your phone. Use a cloud system or home server sync that requires a seperate login every time and keeps no local files. Or as I do, encrypt the hell out of anything you find valuable, which currently is only my complete backups...
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, All. This is my first post at xda-developers!
Since I'm new to Android, data security has concerned me. Climbing the learning curve of rooting and tweaking my SGH-T989, I've focused on control, security, and privacy. So far pretty good, thanks largely to members' posts at this site. Thank you very much!
Then this thread crushed me. Visions of "1984", "THX 1138", "Terminator", etc.
I considered the suggestions here. Thoughts about the OS seem right to me, but that's beyond my abilities. I did try following chbennett's advice: I enabled encryption in my backups and moved them to the internal SD.
But I don't yet know how to do the 'home server / log in on demand' scheme for contacts and calendar. I will appreciate any help with that.
Meanwhile, I looked for a way to make a 'panic button' that would let me wipe my phone immediately. What I chose was making a contact whose phone number is the USSD code for Factory data reset.
Maybe Tasker, etc. could streamline this approach; but my trials showed that, unlike MMI codes (e.g., to toggle caller ID blocking), USSD codes cannot be submitted to the OS indirectly. So swiping a contact, direct dial shortcut, etc. did not work. On my phone, all that worked was either 1. manually dialing the code, or 2. dialing the contact name, then tapping the contact.
So the routine to use this 'panic button' is:
1. launch Dialer
2. dial the contact name
3. tap the contact name in the search results
4. tap "Format USB storage" in the "Factory data reset" dialog
5. tap "Reset phone" button in the "Factory data reset" dialog.
It sounds clunky, but it's actually pretty quick. I named the panic button contact "XXX" to avoid confusability when dialing (it needs only "XX" for a unique match.)
If you can suggest improvements to this scheme, or think it is misguided, please let me know. Thanks.
Any updates on this? I'm curious as to how to guard against ufed.
I think an instant hard brick option would be better so theres nothing to recover as i dont believe the factory reset is a secure wipe
Possibly a voice activated secret phrase or keypress u could say/do super fast in a tricky situation that autoflashes a corrupt/incompatible bootloader and recovery to device after secure superwipe that should stump them for awhile
im still interested in this i disabled usb debugging on my phone but unsure if the UFED can still access anything on my ICS full encrypted passworded evo3d im assuming they could dump the data at most but i highly doubt they could access the decrypted data unless you used an insecure pass
If you have encryption enabled for your data partition, then all you need to do is to turn off your phone when you see a cop. If they take it from you, they can turn it on and hook up their device, but they will only be able to snarf the system partition, which does them no good. They'd need your password to mount the data partition.
If you look around on this forum, you can find the steps necessary to switch the lock screen back to a simple pattern lock while leaving the disk encryption enabled.
Are you sure Cellebrite and UFED or w/e can't access encrypted data partion? I know it can take an image of the phone "hard drive". They then can run password tools against image to unlock it no?
dardack said:
Are you sure Cellebrite and UFED or w/e can't access encrypted data partion? I know it can take an image of the phone "hard drive". They then can run password tools against image to unlock it no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to know about this too. I am about to set up encryption on my device and I'd like to know more about what type of attacks it can beat.
Edit to add: I assume brute force attack protection is like any other type of encryption.....dependent on the strength of your password. But, assuming we all know that already, I'm still curious about this.
If the question is how to protect your device when you think someone would scan your phone, you'd have to have some sort of inclination that a scan is about to happen. I'm assuming this is many people's concern as they're considering wiping their device through a quick process. In that scenario, just turn off your device. Unless you warrant suspicion of something fairly bad, they wouldn't be confiscating your cell phone.
smokeydriver said:
...Unless you warrant suspicion of something fairly bad, they wouldn't be confiscating your cell phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We all wish all law enforcement was just and honest, but so far in world history that has not been the case. Even a pretty woman may have her phone scanned by a curious cop snooping for pics.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
I would still like to know if there is an answer here...
So I recently had some dealing with assisting in a Cellbrite search. We initiated and enlisted the help of law enforcement for an employee who was doing some illegal activity which is not relevant to this discussion other than the person used an iphone. Anyway, the investigator came in and wanted to know if I can enable the bypass for the automatic screen lock in 5 minutes because when it locked, it disabled the Cellbrite copy.
Now, couple things here, he was only doing what he was "allowed' to do in the local municipality, and he did say they sell a more expensive Cellbrite device which would be able to crack it. I did find it interesting that the simple corporate Activesync policy I have set up was actually having this effect. Anyway I removed the policy and it worked. Funny thing is he could have done it himself had he known anything about that kind of thing. He was presented to us as an expert but I guess that mainly covered a basic Cellbrite expertise.
So, I do think encryption would be a great answer as the partition would be hard to bust in to. Nothing is impossible but I would rather not smash my phone on the highway next time I get pulled over so I would like to know definitively that this is the right approach. This is definitely not paranoia as there are at least 3 states where it looks like it happens regularly.
Time to look at a 2600 group for stuff like this I guess. I am early in my investigation
Later

[Q] Problems with developing a custom GS2 rom for medicinal purposes.

Hello to you all people of XDA, firstly I must state that I've scoured the forums far and wide and have yet to find some valuable info regarding my problem.
So what we're doing is developing (or trying to, as is obvious from this post) a custom rom for the Galaxy S2 which would be used for a single medical application for sensor tracking and the processing and displaying of said data on the SGS2, while at the same time sending it to his/her doctor.
What we need to be able to achieve with this rom is to put it into the hands of the end-user (a chronical patient which will in turn be able to stay at home instead of being hospitalized) and be able to completely lock down the phone for his use (I know, it sounds terrible) so that he loses the phone/sms/games/youtube/internet functionality as we need the phone to run as stable and for as long as possible without any additional battery stress (the constant sending, processing and processing of data seems enough of a problem for now).
I've searched into some custom roms but we eventually came up with the need for a stock Samsung rom which could be modified as we want to.
See this is where the problem begins, we can't seem to get the phone rooted, the ROM customized and then unrooted again so that the phone can't be fiddled with anymore, except when it's completely dead and we need to fix it.
So to cap it all up:
It needs to allow for a custom load and bootscreen (I almost got this to work)
It needs to be completely locked down for the end user.
It has to have full BT, NFC and WiFi functionality
It has to be able to call out and reciev calls, but only to/from specific numbers (911, doctor, etc..)
It has to basically allow for 2-3 programs to be running, while the others simply don't exist on the phone.
I am terribly sorry if anything like this has been asked about before, I swear I put 2 days of me life into researching already.
Any help, any help at all, ideas and solutions, but mostly links are welcome.
Thank you and good day to all.
Just a detail, but the SGS2 doesn't have the NFC functionality. Project seems to be possible, I would look into CyanogenMod sources if I was you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
Is he so uncritical that he can search the web and find means of unrooting a mobile phone and then get around to actually doing it?
LucLucLuc said:
Hello to you all people of XDA, firstly I must state that I've scoured the forums far and wide and have yet to find some valuable info regarding my problem.
So what we're doing is developing (or trying to, as is obvious from this post) a custom rom for the Galaxy S2 which would be used for a single medical application for sensor tracking and the processing and displaying of said data on the SGS2, while at the same time sending it to his/her doctor.
What we need to be able to achieve with this rom is to put it into the hands of the end-user (a chronical patient which will in turn be able to stay at home instead of being hospitalized) and be able to completely lock down the phone for his use (I know, it sounds terrible) so that he loses the phone/sms/games/youtube/internet functionality as we need the phone to run as stable and for as long as possible without any additional battery stress (the constant sending, processing and processing of data seems enough of a problem for now).
I've searched into some custom roms but we eventually came up with the need for a stock Samsung rom which could be modified as we want to.
See this is where the problem begins, we can't seem to get the phone rooted, the ROM customized and then unrooted again so that the phone can't be fiddled with anymore, except when it's completely dead and we need to fix it.
So to cap it all up:
It needs to allow for a custom load and bootscreen (I almost got this to work)
It needs to be completely locked down for the end user.
It has to have full BT, NFC and WiFi functionality
It has to be able to call out and reciev calls, but only to/from specific numbers (911, doctor, etc..)
It has to basically allow for 2-3 programs to be running, while the others simply don't exist on the phone.
I am terribly sorry if anything like this has been asked about before, I swear I put 2 days of me life into researching already.
Any help, any help at all, ideas and solutions, but mostly links are welcome.
Thank you and good day to all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Block all internet access apart from ones you want or you can just setup iptables rules, shouldnt need root apart from when setting it up
As far as removing programs, just delete the apks from the zip, or before you remove root. My sig has a list of all apks in a upto date rom and what they do.
You can use gemini app manager to control autoruns (stop them etc) also to block (hide and disable apps)
As far removing root, your best bet is to once you are done, use adb (from the android sdk) to remove the superuser.apk then flash the stock kernel back, as far as I know without superuser apps cant grain root permisions.
OR
This app will allow you to block any app behind a password
This app will block incoming and outgoing sms and calls on white and blacklists
Custom boot logo (the first screen before the animation)
Custom boot animation need to go into system/media, I am not sure about the format but there are loads around, like this thread has loads, stock kernel should support them.
I hope that helps
Most of that is easily possible.
If you listed the apps needing removed, the apk files just need deleted.
To control calls, you can use a third party app from market for that.
It's possible to have the custom rom unrooted, and easily flashed, regardless of how badly the phone gets rooted
Boot animation is easy anyway... If you can provide it in a zip like other ones (zip containing numbered png's) then it's a piece of cake.
A little bit of clever firewall stuff would prevent any web traffic, in or out, except to your defined server, which is obviously a concern when a phone is handling sensitive medical info.
genieass said:
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
The phones are going to be used by around 500.000 people in a year, it's not that we want to take anything away from the user, it's more about not having any problems with the firmware - like ever.
Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
genieass said:
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
The phones are going to be used by around 500.000 people in a year, it's not that we want to take anything away from the user, it's more about not having any problems with the firmware - like ever.
Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LucLucLuc, not sure where you live, but you're entering the patient confidentiality minefield with big, big boots.
Apart from the legal considerations, your question is definitely OS related and not device related.
I see what you want, but legally - where I live anyway - it's too much of a grey area to get involved with.
I use call recording a lot for referrals and info from other doctors, but I've always asked the other party if they're OK with it. I won't record patient conversations, and I won't accept any files whatsoever that have seen RIS or PACS first - not worth it.
Can't see it's worth your while, but I'd appreciate it if you keep me informed should you decide to work on it.
Big boots indeed
We are from Slovenia, Europe.
I'm actually just a student doing the research and some basic Android programming, thank god I wasn't let into the bigger of the projects
But yes, this project is a colaboration of several european firms and you can read more about it at chiron-project.eu - it's a very very interesting project afaic.
I don't think we'll be swimming with lawyer piranhas soon though, the project uses sensor data (which sorta is a privacy issue) which will be monitored on a tablet running Android (currently testing the Galaxy tab 10.1 - we were lucky to order one before Steve had another one of his fits), proccessed in real time and then stored on the central server, from where it will only be accessible by the patients doctor.
Patient consents are dealt with before we even start talking about mobile hospitalizations.
It's very encouraging to see some actual interest, if anyone wants to know more about anything related to this project contact me at [email protected]
Thanks again for all the help.

(What are) Must have APPS and To-Do to newbies to Galaxy S9+ (?)

Hey all.
Within a couple of days I'm getting my new Galaxy S9+ (Exynos) phone.
I made a year break from Android and switched to Apple, and now I'm back.
Unfortunately, I know nothing about newest Galaxy phones.
Maybe anyone has suggestions what should I do (download) when I'll set-up my phone (I've watched all the reviews of "must have" etc., don't suggest me to do that)?
I used to root and unlock bootloader for each my android phone, but I won't do that to my Galaxy S9+ at least for 6 months.
Hence, many root apps not working: "AdAway", "Viper4Android" etc.,
Maybe anyone knows Ad Blocking app without rooting a phone?
Or just mention anything that newbie to Galaxy S9+ should know.
(If you're wondering why am I "spamming" with these "stupid" questions: And no, I didn't find any similar thread to this)
Thanks in advance!
I use to root and rom all my phones, but I don't think it is as necessary as before.
I also use to download all the tweaks, but I don't do that either.
Non-root to block adds try Blokada it is in the F-Droid store.
It is Free and it Works.
I also swear by ES File Explorer to view and move files on your app. Also to sync any cloud storage you have.
If you have a regular phone number and google voice number going to the same phone
Voice Choice 2.0 is a nice app that allows you to make calls with a specific number
i.e. family and close friends have you carrier number
work partners, resume, business line has your google number
when you make a call you don't have to select anything, based on your rules set up it will dial out using the appropriate number.
re
qnc said:
I use to root and rom all my phones, but I don't think it is as necessary as before.
I also use to download all the tweaks, but I don't do that either.
Non-root to block adds try Blokada it is in the F-Droid store.
It is Free and it Works.
I also swear by ES File Explorer to view and move files on your app. Also to sync any cloud storage you have.
If you have a regular phone number and google voice number going to the same phone
Voice Choice 2.0 is a nice app that allows you to make calls with a specific number
i.e. family and close friends have you carrier number
work partners, resume, business line has your google number
when you make a call you don't have to select anything, based on your rules set up it will dial out using the appropriate number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Maybe you know anything about removing / disabling Bloatware as well?
LaurynasVP said:
Thanks! Maybe you know anything about removing / disabling Bloatware as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check out this thread at your own risk. It works I disabled Facebook (don't see why that would be on and unlocked phone fro Samsung, but i digress)
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/how-to/s9-s9-bloatware-removal-thread-g960u-t3817810
Be careful with the commands and understand what is being done before you hit the enter/return key
Good thing about disabling is if you fubar the phone you can do a factory restore and start all over
I only disabled Facebook. will investigate the other software as i play with the phone. Only had it 2 weeks so far.
re
qnc said:
check out this thread at your own risk. It works I disabled Facebook (don't see why that would be on and unlocked phone fro Samsung, but i digress)
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/how-to/s9-s9-bloatware-removal-thread-g960u-t3817810
Be careful with the commands and understand what is being done before you hit the enter/return key
Good thing about disabling is if you fubar the phone you can do a factory restore and start all over
I only disabled Facebook. will investigate the other software as i play with the phone. Only had it 2 weeks so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll keep everything in mind

Secure compromised device

Hi everyone! This is my first post, but I have used the search tool already without success. I am just a user, not developer and quite noob regarding mobiles and security.
Situation
1. I've got hacked, total control (photos, emails, camera, contacts, whatsapp, screen etc) of my unrooted android phone (xiaomi redmi note 7).
It was a targetted attack, no manual app installed, no unsafe 3rd party apps allowed. Attackers only had my gmail account (linked to android) and telephone number. I know them personally, and they leaked personal information to people at work (who enjoy it between them but won't help me at all).
No high consumption of battery/data. Just leeching information, launching some apps eventually, and few interactions with the screen minimizing etc.
2. I Installed antimalware (e.g malwarebytes), antivirus (avg, esset etc). No positive results. I also installed "Noroot firewall" to control programs accessing internet, nothing strange.
3. I've changed emails(new), SIM + Telephone. Got hacked again. I suspect my own wifi was compromised.
Additionally, added 2 step verification to emails, changed passwords, encrypted the device etc. I have found no IP from them in the emails log, nor alert from gmail. Only once a session from Linux device (not mine). I believe they have accessed through the device.
4. I want to restore the device somehow and avoid getting hacked again.
One of the problems I face is taht that now I'm not in the same circle of people from which I gathered most of the info on the leaked information, so I can't get to know if the actions I am taking got rid of the hack, besides some punctual actions they may do (launch app etc). So I have to act quite paranoid and do the most secure action.
Question
1. Any idea on how they managed to do that? how can I prevent it or prove it? a reset would get rid of any proof, but I kinda prefer it if it is once and for all.
2. A hard reset only formats one partition (user data), so if there is a trojan located in /system it would be pointless. With an unrooted device I can only get rid of /cache and /data.
Should I install another ROM?(my phone has always been unrooted) which one? (restoring the stack ROM would probably be pointless if the vulnerability is due to android...
3. Is there any other measure I could take?
I'd appreciate any help.
Thank you!

Categories

Resources