Hey Guys,
Two (possibly silly) questions. I clicked a link to an article from another forum and when the site loaded, it launched Google Play and brought up an app called Heroes of Camelot. I’ve never had Google Play launch while just visiting a website. Is this something I should be concerned about?
Also, could malware survive a factory reset on an Android phone if you didn’t back up the data or apps? I’m still not entirely sure how tricksy android malware is.
Hi roane.
Simple answer to your questions - I do not know.
Long response.
When you pose your first question, you say "it brought up an app". Well if all it did was draw this to your attention and did not install it then I very much doubt that it is likely to have installed any malware. For example this link will call up NMS on Google Play, but it will not install it.
As for your second question, then I personally am not aware of any way that malware that was not part of the original factory installation could survive a factory reset. With malware I am sorry to say that I would never feel confident giving a definitive answer but I think you can be fairly confident that a factory reset would leave you clean. Is there any reason why you would think that it might not?
Is that any help?
Hi Andmike,
Thanks for the quick reply! I knew clicking on links could bring up Google Play, but I didn’t realize a site could bring up Google Play on loading.
That makes sense and was what I was hoping. I know some PC malware and rootkits can survive reformatting, though, so was concerned that the same might be true of android devices.
Your response was a big help and helped put my mind at ease. Thank you!
Hi, roane. Also bear in mind that Android operates in a *sandboxed* type of environment, and as long as you download only from Google Play, then you'll be fine.
If you're using an antivirus app that scans on/before install, then you're good.
Thanks F4E!
I have NMS and only download apps from Google Play from well known developers but I wasn’t sure if Android malware still had to come in on an app or if you could get it just from visiting a website.
Someday I will learn to just sit back and enjoy technology. Maybe. Possibly. Could happen.
I leave Norton to do the worrying. As long as that green tick is in the tray and Norton doesn't spit out any nasty notifications, then I DO sit back relax, and enjoy the interwebz !...........