WiFi Security score in Norton Mobile Security

Archive
1

Norton Mobile Security is telling me that I have connected to an unsecured network, when I don't believe I have.  This has happened to me before, and I have previously posted about it.  See https://community.norton.com/en/forums/wi-fi-security-rating-mobil-norton-security-home-page

This time the circumstances are different and the "fix" I accepted no longer works.  Therefore, I'm starting this new thread.

My phone and carrier has changed since the earlier thread.  I am now using a Samsung Express Prime 2 phone on AT&T's network.  It is running Android 7.0.  My wife has an identical phone with the same carrier and OS level.

The recent problem first occurred on my wife's phone.  Immediately after restarting from an Android security upgrade, a Norton Security popup was displayed stating "You're connected to an unsecure network ...".  I opened the Mobil Security app and saw that it was displaying a "WiFi Security" score of 70%.  When I click on "WiFi Security" it says "You've connected to unsecure WiFi networks ..." and shows my network which is, and has always been, secured.  I immediately checked the phones WiFi settings, which showed, appropriately, that it was connected to my WiFi and displayed the lock symbol.

Of course, I hadn't checked the WiFi security score in my wife's phone immediately prior to the upgrade.  However, my phone, which had not yet done the Android security upgrade, still showed a "WiFi Security" score of 100%.  I then did the upgrade on my phone and the exact same thing happened - I got the same popup on restart, my "WiFi Security" score went to 70%, and my WiFi network was shown as the unsecured network.

My best guess is that in the upgrade/restart process there is some delay in the availability of the WiFi connection status which caused this to occur.  It may be more of an Android problem than a Norton problem, but in the end it's a false positive.

There is also a problem with the "fix" I accepted in the previous thread.  In Android 7.0 it is no longer possible (I believe) to erase the NMS app data as a way to reset the "WiFi Security" score.  If there is any way to reset the WiFi security score, short of uninstalling and reinstalling the app, I would be interested in hearing about it.

I don't mind very much that the app isn't perfect and can generate an occasional false positive.  But there should be an easy way to clear such detections, and users should not be nagged to sign up for Norton's VPN service.

 

 

 

2

You may not see that many OS updates. The timing for you may be that the phone was delivered to you with the older OS version as it may have been sitting on the shelf a while. And once you activated it, the new version was pushed out to you. Then you got the second update as a security update.

3

Yes, I definitely think the problem was triggered by the OS update.  I don't know how often the updates will take place.  This is the second one since I've had the phone (about 6 weeks).  This one didn't change the android version, just the security patch level.  The earlier one changed the android version, but did not cause a problem with NMS.

I didn't know about the problems with NS after Windows 10 updates.  I've been lucky enough not to encounter them.

I appreciate your help.  Thanks.

 

4

Glad to hear the issue is fixed.

Looking back, you mentioned it first happened after an update to the phone's OS. I feel that something in the update scrambled your NMS cache and data. Similar issues were seen when Win 10 went through the major updates. The Anniversary Update hosed many Norton (and other AV products) installations.  So you should not run into this again unless you get another OS update. 

Your having to reset your settings is not surprising, as the app data is where that information is stored. Clearing the data is almost the same as a reinstall. As you mention, I could have just suggested reinstalling the product, but may users get upset with that suggestion.

 

5

Yes, this works, but it's only slightly easier than uninstalling and reinstalling.  Besides turning device administrator back on and re-entering my credentials, I also had to:

  • re-establish my Norton AntiTheft SMS code
  • turn on AntiTheft Sim Card Lock
  • turn on AntiTheft Security Wipe
  • reset my scheduled scans
  • turn on "Ongoing Notifications"
  • turn on "Web Protection" and turn on "Norton Security Security Service" in "Accessibility".
  • check on license management (It did re-use the same license, but lost the label I had assigned to distinguish my phone from my wife's.)
  • test Norton AntiTheft functionality.

I will probably not go through this for my wife's phone, and will not do it again on my phone unless there is a fix for the root problem that would make me reasonably confident that it would not happen again.  Lacking such a fix, I still think Symantec should to provide a way to reset the "WiFi Security" score short of wiping out all configuration data.  Unless Symantec does that, the best approach for users is to treat the "WiFi Security" score as a nuisance and ignore it.  If you ever connect to WiFi you don't control, use VPN.  That's all you need to know.

6

If the cache and app data are greyed it is because you have the Device Administrator setting on for NMS.

Try going into the Norton Mobile Security, NMS app settings. Tap on the 3 bars at the top left of the NMS screen and tap on Settings. Scroll down to the Anti Theft section and turn off the Device Administrator setting.  Now go to Android Settings - Apps. Scroll to the NMS app and clear the app cache and app Data. Restart the device and turn the Device Administrator setting back on. This will reset your NMS to a trial version. To get the full version back, open the NMS app, tap on the 3 bars at the top left, then tap Sign In. Enter your Norton Account information and you should have the full version again.

Then test to see if things work properly.

7

Yes, the phones have been rebooted.  I don't get the pop-up again but I have gotten additional notifications from NMS about signing up for their VPN.  In NMS the WiFi security score continues to be 70% and it continues to show my WiFi network as an unsecure connection that I've connected to.

Under "settings -> apps" the option to "clear data" is greyed-out.  It just occurs to me that maybe that's because I have Norton Anti-Theft enabled.  I'll experiment with that and let you know.  I'm not sure that will be a very convenient fix though, because I assume I would have to set it up and test it again.

8

 Have you rebooted the phones a couple of times since the OS update?

 In Android 7.0 it is no longer possible (I believe) to erase the NMS app data as a way to reset the "WiFi Security" score. 

Can you not find the Android Settings - Apps, and then the entry for NMS? You should be able to clear the app cache and app data from there.