What is Reddit's opinion of
Sophos Mobile Security?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
Popularity Score: 28
This app was mentioned in 45 comments, with an average of 1.24 upvotes
Best Comments
First of all, don't beat yourself up over it. Mistakes happen and we learn. Lesson being to only download apps from places you 100% know are safe, and even then to be cautious.
Now for fixing your phone, there could be a number of things it did that could be causing these ads. After you remove the modded kik, go through your apps in your settings and try to find any app you don't need any more, installed recently, and anything that seems out of place.
Next you should clear your phones cache and excess stuff. If your phone has a built in tool for it, use that. Don't download cleaners, they're almost all full of spam and viruses. If you don't have a built in cleaner, go through some of your heave use apps and clear the cache manually.
Once the cleaning is done, download an antivirus from the play store. Stick with reputable vendors, I would recommend Sophos or Malwarebytes. Have it scan, let it go through the whole process, then address the results. If you have questions about what it finds, let me know.
If it finds some actual viruses and we are able to clean them, then that might be all we need to do. However if we are less confident in it's findings, then we should look into backing up your data and resetting your phone. But we'll address that once we have findings from the antivirus. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Sophos Android Mobile Security is free for most features and can help protect you from malicious software.
Install Sophos, scan, remove anything it finds objectionable, and proceed accordingly.
Perhaps you downloaded one of the apps that was infected with nasty advertising? There was a rash of them in the play store fairly recently.
Sophos has a writeup and listing....and of course a plug for their free AV app that removes them if they are indeed infected
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/06/16/the-google-play-adware-apps-that-just-wont-die/
Direct link to Sophos Play Store app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&feature=search_result&hl=en
I'm using Sophos. It has worked well since I installed it. Previously I used Eset which was good too. Nothing bad to say about Mlawarebytes either. Just going with Sophos for now. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&hl=en
I use: Sophos Intercept X for Mobile.. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&utm_source=FreeTools
Free with all functions and without any advertising or nagging etc.
One that's rarely mentioned, but if you're willing to take the time to set it up, is Sophos Intercept X for Mobile. It provides full suite protection (malware, browser, Wi-Fi) for free with no adverts. It's part of their corporate range, and Sophos allow it to be used without any restrictions, as a self-contained product.
For real-time app only protection, Bitdefender Antivirus, is effective and simplicity itself to set up and use.
Separate from this, make sure you've enabled Google Find My Device, in case your phone is lost or stolen. It will allow you to locate, and if necessary, wipe your device.
Kaspersky free on mobile is really just a scanner. Sophos Intercept X for Mobile offers the most comprehensive real-time protection for free. It gives you on-install and on demand app scanning, plus full browser protection in Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers. No adverts or upgrade popups.
If you only want scanning of apps, then Bitdefender Antivirus Free gives you on-install and on-demand app scanning and nothing else. Unlike Sophos, you just install it, no set up required.
For Android, have a look at Sophos Intercept X. It's free, with no adverts or upgrade prompts, and is a complete suite including app, browser and QR code scanning.
Sophos Intercept X for Mobile. It's genuinely free with no ads. It scans apps on download, on installation and on demand. Provides browser protection against both malware and phishing sites. Plus a host of other features. You do need to spend time understanding what it does. Use their forum for in-depth questions.
It's rarely reviewed because it's a business product that Sophos make available for anyone to use.
If you only want protection from malicious apps, Bitdefender Antivirus Free is far simpler than Sophos, essentially set and forget. You'd need to buy their premium version to get browser protection.
Sophos Intercept X for Mobile. Completely free with no ads.
One of the most comprehensive Android AV suites you can get. It's better than many paid apps. You must spend time using it to get fully understand what it will do. Use their forum for any support questions.
Alternatively, Bitdefender Antivirus Free is far simpler than Sophos, but it doesn't provide any browser protection, purely scanning your phone for malicious apps.
Virus Total's report flags them as a phishing threat which would try and steal login details rather than necessarily drop malware. With 3 scanners showing as clean, I think you'll be fine.
For real-time protection on Android, use Sophos Intercept X for Mobile, it will help protect you from both malicious apps and websites. It's an offshoot of Sophos' commercial product and is offered free of charge with no ads.
I would shift to sophos:
Intercept X for Mobile
Device
Intercept X for Mobile continuously monitors for and alerts users and IT administrators to signs of potential compromise so they can rapidly remediate issues and automatically revoke access to corporate resources. Compliance checks detect jailbreaking, rooting, encryption status, and more, informing users and IT administrators of necessary operating system updates. Device health check recommendations further guide security settings.
Network
Intercept X for Mobile monitors network connections for suspicious activity in real time, warning users and IT administrators of potential Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. Web filtering and URL checking also stop access to known bad sites, and SMS phishing detection spots malicious URLs.
Apps
Intercept X for Mobile detects malicious and potentially unwanted applications installed on devices, protecting against malware, ransomware and fleeceware.
you can get it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&utm_source=FreeTools&pcampaignid=MKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1
/Your Dick!
" Intercept X for Mobile monitors network connections for suspicious activity in real time, warning users and IT administrators of potential Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. Web filtering and URL checking also stop access to known bad sites, and SMS phishing detection spots malicious URLs.
Apps
Intercept X for Mobile detects malicious and potentially unwanted applications installed on devices, protecting against malware, ransomware and fleeceware."
/Your Dick!
Run an offline scan with Defender to double check your system - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17466/windows-microsoft-defender-offline-help-protect-my-pc
If you were just charging your phone, you should be fine. If you are still concerned, get Sophos Intercept X to check for malware on Android. If you have an iPhone, no worries.
At first: what phone do you have?
second: Install Sophos https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec And mark "scan system apps" and "scan pup/pua" This will scan every installed app.
I personally like and use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec because it has malware definitions auto-update , which does not come with most free mobile antivirus scanners. Make sure that the avast scanner is disabled before you install a new antivirus.
Next time try and by more specific. Are you talking about an iPhone or Android phone, what use do you make of it and such ?
If you're talking about an iPhone, and it's not jailbreaked, you're safe and don't need any security software. If fact there is no real antivirus for iOS, just security software with extra features.
If you're on Android, that depends. In theory, if you only download safe and popular apps from the Google Play store, don't download APK's or root your phone you should be fine. But if you want to be on the safe side, Sophos Mobile Security is my favorite free antivirus, as it doesn't disturb you with ads. Avast Mobile Security is also a decent choice if you don't mind the ads. If you're willing to pay there are great choices as well (ESET, Bitdefender, etc...) but there isn't much difference.
I disable and re-enable 2FA every time I'm about to lose my authentication app. Doesn't take much time for the 9 accounts I use it in. I don't have a separate authenticator. Sophos has it as a component, hence saves the clutter.
What jdayellow said. Google's weather card does a swell job of weather info, and it is integrated. As for antivirus, I'm not a fan either. On top of that AVG is a joke both for computer and mobile. If you want an AV just for precaution, use Sophos.
I put in a compliance policy in AirWatch for any Android devices that they need to have Sophos Free AV. The apps don't auto deploy (at least, not the last time I tried), but it will not allow EAS connection to our Exchange servers until Sophos AV is installed.
This article is very sloppy regarding technical facts.
>There are plenty of useful Android apps (like this one, from Sophos) that you can use to remote wipe.
This is completely irrelevant because the phone is an iPhone X, not an Android phone. iOS does not provide a way for third party apps to wipe a device.
>But what if your device is set to erase after X number of hours if you haven’t unlocked it? That’s what one Redditor pondered:
That's also not possible on iOS. The Redditor is posting a hypothetical to explore the legal implications. At least the article later points out that this is hypothetical.
>But are there ways that somebody else could have wiped her iPhone?
>
>Yes, if somebody else had her iCloud account credentials and managed to log in from the same IP address.
There's no requirement to log in from the same IP address. It requires the iCloud credentials as well as the ability to get past iCloud two-factor authentication.
The article also misses other ways that an iPhone can be wiped. If the device is enrolled in MDM and the MDM server claimed the "erase device" access right, then the MDM server can remotely wipe the device. Also if the device has an Exchange ActiveSync account, EAS can remotely wipe the device. But most importantly, the device can be deliberately or inadvertently wiped by anyone with physical access to the device. Entering the device passcode too many times will wipe the device. A passcode policy installed by a configuration profile can reduce the number of failed attempts needed to wipe the device.
The only other way that I'm aware of is if the device is jailbroken, and custom behavior is inserted into the OS. Considering the suspect is not technically savvy, this is very unlikely.
Koodous and Androguard fit your description but I'll be honest - I've not seen a lot of decent YARA rules for Android. Mostly a bunch of hashes or strings from mainstream malware.
An alternative might be to use something like Sophos Mobile Security. It's had 100% protection scores on AVTest for the past 23 tests in a row. No jokes, found a backdoored app on my friend's random Chinese handset (sold only on a random Japanese website) without having seen a sample before. Backdoored app was introduced during an OTA update and detected instantly.
Oh, and it's free with no adverts or spyware. Win.
I'll copy what I put in another comment over to here, as I think it's still pretty applicable:
First of all, don't beat yourself up over it. Mistakes happen and we learn. Lesson being to only download apps from places you 100% know are safe, and even then to be cautious.
Now for fixing your phone, there could be a number of things it did that could be causing these ads. After you remove the modded kik, go through your apps in your settings and try to find any app you don't need any more, installed recently, and anything that seems out of place.
Next you should clear your phones cache and excess stuff. If your phone has a built in tool for it, use that. Don't download cleaners, they're almost all full of spam and viruses. If you don't have a built in cleaner, go through some of your heave use apps and clear the cache manually.
Once the cleaning is done, download an antivirus from the play store. Stick with reputable vendors, I would recommend Sophos or Malwarebytes. Have it scan, let it go through the whole process, then address the results. If you have questions about what it finds, let me know.
If it finds some actual viruses and we are able to clean them, then that might be all we need to do. However if we are less confident in it's findings, then we should look into backing up your data and resetting your phone. But we'll address that once we have findings from the antivirus. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Sophos Mobile security allows PIN or fingerprint. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec
A malicius .scr file is designed to exploit a Windows based x86/x64 system as reported by Symantec, Sophos, and Neowin. Since its on your phone, you should be completely fine as Android is ARM Architecture. I would just find the file and delete it from your system with any file explorer app. If you really want you can also use a free anti-virus on your phone like Sophos AV.
Source: I work in cyber security.
Signal is an excellent, encrypted messaging app. Makes phone calls over WiFi as well.
Intercept X will help keep malware off of your phone.
Bitwarden is a great free password manager.
F-Droid has a whole lot of free, open source Android apps. It's a very useful alternative to the Google store.
👍
Firefox with uBlock Origin on your phone is very safe and perfectly fine to use.
Sophos' Intercept X with the watchdog companion is also very good at scanning apps and links if you are concerned about malware on your phone. It is easily the best totally free Android antivirus app - https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/mobile-devices/
Uninstall sophos Central and install this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec
Or use another av (like eset mobile av)
YES! If the app is causing you headache, you should uninstall it!
Try like sophos instead: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&utm_source=FreeTools&pcampaignid=MKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1
" Sophos Intercept X for Mobile delivers industry leading protection against malware and other mobile threats. The app has consistently achieved a 100% protection score in AV-TEST’s comparison of the top Android security and antivirus apps.
Full features, no advertising, all free"
And: "EndangeredPootis" google has far form excellent control over apps in google play so you CAN download malicious apps from there.. The first search results i found:
1: https://threatpost.com/google-play-malware-apps/141022/
2: https://threatpost.com/google-play-removes-22-malicious-lightsout-apps-from-marketplace/129328/
3: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/google-play-removes-38-android-apps-adware-white-ops-2244725
So! NO! You can not trust google to keep their app-store free of malicious apps, Thus there really is a need to use some sort of protection in your smartphone!
/Your Dick!
Maybe try Sophos Intercept X? It's much better than Malwarebytes on android imo.
I've got Malwarebytes Premium on my PCs, but use Intercept X on my phone for app scanning and web protection. Free version is great.
Did you try Intercept X or Malwarebytes?
Also, give Blockada a try if those two don't fix it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&hl=en
This should take care of it. Do a scan.
have you tried installing anything? e.g. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec&feature=search_result&hl=en
I use Sophos. It has some neat security features.
Here is the best Android Security App around. Only one left that is still completely free, no ads. Tons of features, and scores 100% detection of malware in independent labs testing. Also, they have free home PC AV Security available. Here is playstore app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec
I'll echo what others have said in that's it's very unlikely to be a virus.
However, if you're still a bit uneasy you can install the Sophos Mobile Security app. (It's free!)
Install Sophos Mobile Security, run a scan, and see if it flags anything with weird permissions or anything that's hidden.
You could always factory reset the phone if you're paranoid enough.
I recommend Sophos. Sophos has just been named the best mobile security app (again) by AV-Test, with a 100% detection rate for malware.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec
AV-Test has ranked Sophos antivirus as the best anti-malware app for Android.
Make sure nothing else on your device is a potential threat.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec