Root Is security an issue on rooted phones?

[esmith818]

I remember all the ruckus about security concerns for jailbroken iPhones, and after talking to a friend with one of these devices, I began to wonder if there were any similar concerns I should have with a rooted Droid?

1) Is it more important now to have a "pattern-protected" lock screen?
2) Do I need to create a unique password for su access?
3) Do I need to be more concerned malware or data swiping from market apps?

I love my recently rooted Droid (thanks to help from several members on this forum), but assume that "with great power, comes great responsibility." Is my assumption correct, or do I need not be concerned?

 

[shrink57]

You do open yourself up to installing stuff off the beaten path that I guess does have the potential to create security problems but for me that is not an issue. I have never had a security problem and have never heard of such problems. I do not think my private data is more vulnerable due to rooting.

 

[srothkin]

Well the pattern lock is a must-do in general unless you NEVER have any personal data (including access to web sites and email) on your phone that would be a problem if a thief saw it.

 

[johnlgalt]

I remember all the ruckus about security concerns for jailbroken iPhones, and after talking to a friend with one of these devices, I began to wonder if there were any similar concerns I should have with a rooted Droid?

1) Is it more important now to have a "pattern-protected" lock screen?
2) Do I need to create a unique password for su access?
3) Do I need to be more concerned malware or data swiping from market apps?

I love my recently rooted Droid (thanks to help from several members on this forum), but assume that "with great power, comes great responsibility." Is my assumption correct, or do I need not be concerned?

Difference there is that there were a lot of copycat methods for jail-braking, some from not very reputable sources.

With the Android OS, the sources are always reputable, and the widely publicized methods always go back to those reputable sources.

 

[mhome]

With the Android OS, the sources are always reputable, and the widely publicized methods always go back to those reputable sources.

I'm not as worried about the keyboard lock as I am someone hijacking login info.

"always reputable" seems like a stretch.

How do we know the dev's putting out custom ROM's are reputable and won't hijack personal data from our Droids.

Personally I've thought about this and I'm not too concerned, but sure seems like with all the sensitive info on our phones we'd be a little more cautious on whose ROM's we're running.

Am I wrong? Hope so.

Mark

 

[barry99705]

I'm not as worried about the keyboard lock as I am someone hijacking login info.

"always reputable" seems like a stretch.

How do we know the dev's putting out custom ROM's are reputable and won't hijack personal data from our Droids.

Personally I've thought about this and I'm not too concerned, but sure seems like with all the sensitive info on our phones we'd be a little more cautious on whose ROM's we're running.

Am I wrong? Hope so.

Mark

Do you know the shitstorm that would happen if someone did find the devs were hijacking our info? They'd have to be freaking nuts to try something like that. Now if you want to see something really cool... Watch this video.

 

[OMJ]

I have never worried about the security of my phone even since I rooted. That being said it is silly to think that there is no chance of issues once rooted. The nature of root means are phones are less secure than stock. If you stick to stuff made by reputable devs and stuff that has good reviews from reputable users you will be fine. If you try every new thing that pops up no matter who made it and no matter where you found it then you are opening yourself to problems.

Ive never heard of information or anything else being stolen because of a phone being rooted but the more popular an OS gets the more likely people are to try and steal stuff from it.

Not trying to scare you just being real

 

[ilmar72]

Do you know the shitstorm that would happen if someone did find the devs were hijacking our info? They'd have to be freaking nuts to try something like that. Now if you want to see something really cool... Watch this video.

What exactly is that video. It was too long for me to watch with my short attention span

 

[barry99705]

What exactly is that video. It was too long for me to watch with my short attention span

Zoom over to 26 minutes. It shows that you don't have to be a rom developer to get user information. The fact that you didn't bother to watch the video is also the reason web sites like http://robmenow.com/ exist. People put way more info on the net than they think. I've tracked down a specific house from nothing more than what I could see in a podcast. The host of said podcast said guess where we are. Between a buddy of mine and me, we told them the address of the house, who owned it, how much it was worth, and how much they paid for it. We also found the floor plan. All of that info is out there.

All I'm saying worrying about whether you root you phone or not isn't as big a security factor as what applications you run. Even the games you run with a nonrooted phone can give away more than you realize.

 

[megaera]

I can't bring myself to worry too much about my personal information when I'm holding a phone that syncs to Google, otherwise known as "All your information are belong to us." In a way I think rooting makes you safer, as you are less likely to think yourself secure than you would be with a stock phone.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

If someone's dumb enough to steal my identity, than they deserve the misery that'll befit them. About the worse that could happen is someone finding my internet search history, and everyone that knows me knows I'm a perv anyway. ;-)

 

[ska.t73]

I had my identity stolen a few years ago (long before smart phones)...

Then gave it back...

 

[rse411]

sorry to revive this old thread...

I just rooted my phone and found out about the security loss issues with it. I dont have too much personal info on my phone,

But I have used paypal and stuff, before I rooted it tho, not after, at least not yet.

My concern is that is using a website like paypal a bad idea from a rooted phone?
exactly how easy is it for someone to hack information on a rooted phone?

 

[Dave17]

If you're running a reputable ROM (Bugless Beast, Cyanogenmod, etc.) you should be fine. Another way to help maintain your sense of safety is to run an app that watches permissions. I use the appropriately named "Permissions."

Permissions by Christian Mehlmauer 100 downloads, 8 ratings (4.2 avg)

Free

One of the things that I like best about this app is that it doesn't ask for any permissions for itself. There are others as well, but I liked this one best.

Dave