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Mobile Security Report 2014 - AV

1. App Scan Scan just your apps Full Scan Scan everything Custom Scan Scan only the items you choose Apps Scan your apps Messages Scan your text and media messages Files and folders Select specific file types or folders to scan The App Scan only checks the installed apps while the Custom Scan provides a choice of apps messages and individual folders App Privacy The App Privacy function allows the user to check installed apps for possible privacy violations All apps are shown in a list divided into different risk categories In our test only apps in the Medium and Low classes were found Serious privacy breaches are shown in a separate list entitled Notable Apps Tapping an app in the list displays details of the app and reasons for it being noted as a security risk e g because it can access the devices location data It is possible to uninstall an app directly from the list AV comparatives 9 Knows your specific location amp Knows the email account on your device 89 Knows files stored on your device external storage 0 Knows your wireless carrier a CN F EE It is possible to set automatic privacy scans in the settings Privacy Control This feature protects the user s personal data and repels troublemakers There are 3 sub components listed below Lock Apps This function enables the user to PIN protect installed apps The PIN must be entered to allow acces
2. This command deletes personal data from the phone The phone is not reset to factory settings with the advantage that the theft protection software remains active When we tested it the delete function removed contacts text messages and photos from the internal storage The Google Account password was not deleted from our test device As many Chinese users do not use a Google account this may be seen as a minor risk On the other hand Tencent WeChat messages also remained on the device which was still logged onto our WeChat test account Lock SMS Command QQLock password This function locks the mobile phone to prevent unauthorised access To unlock the phone the previously defined password must be entered In our test a simple 1 was accepted as security password Such short passwords provide no protection at all A text message is sent by Tencent Mobile Manager on successful locking of the phone After the test Tencent published a version where the theft protection can only be used with a QQ account and using a password is no longer possible Locate SMS Command QQLocate password By sending a text message with this command the user can determine the location of the mobile phone Whichever phone number sends the lock command will receive in return another text with a written description of the location and a link to the relevant map page of Tencent s map service 78 Recover password
3. Block numbers not in contacts Check for malicious URLs Text messages are not checked The text message block function did not work at all on our Nexus 5 However Sophos informed us about this appropriately They have also promised to make the software compatible in future releases On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 the function worked exactly as intended The call blocking function worked effectively on both devices although we noted that the call appears on the screen for a fraction of a second The quarantine can be used to view previously blocked calls and texts and restore or delete them Privacy Advisor The Privacy Advisor lists installed apps that might represent a threat to the user s privacy Sophos categorises the apps according to threat level high medium low and colours the appropriately red yellow white in the list AV comparatives The user can filter the apps according to the following risks causing costs accessing personal information or using the Internet connection Tapping an application shows very detailed information about it Security Advisor This points out to the user any settings on the phone that might affect security Sophos checks seven different settings including screen lock and device encryption Tapping one of the entries provides the user with an explanation and a link to the appropriate page in the Android settings App Protection This compone
4. Lock Text message command BLOCK lt password gt The Lock function locks the device with a lock screen This worked very reliably in our test and could not be bypassed It was also possible to make an emergency call at any time The trusted contact is also displayed and can be called directly The device can be unlocked by entering the password or by using the web interface Wipe Text message command WIPE lt password gt This function deletes personal data from the user s device On our Nexus 5 which cannot use an external SD card all the data was deleted This did not reset the device to factory settings with the advantage that the theft protection software remains active On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 files on the SD card were also deleted The program even went to the trouble of overwriting the SD card meaning that the wipe process took some hours to complete Unfortunately this was not successful as we were able to recover the data using a popular freeware program Dial Call Text message command CALL lt password gt This causes the lost or stolen smartphone to call the sender s number Pick Up Call Text message command PICKUP lt password gt This command makes the smartphone answer the next call made to it Unlike the Dial Call function this feature works even if the credit on a pre paid SIM card is used up Record Audio Text message command AUDIO lt password gt When the com
5. Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Android Device Manager The Android Device Manager provides the user with solid base functionality with regard to theft protection and is installed by default in the Android operating system The component is controlled by a web interface https www qoogle com android devicemana ger Text message commands are not available Google uad HH QP Installation No installation is required as the protection is built into Android On our test device the component was already activated In some cases it may need to be enabled in the settings Locate This function locates a lost or stolen phone and shows its position in Google Maps Only one location is shown at a time tracking the movement of the phone is not possible Ring The Ring function sounds a melody at full volume for five minutes This allows the owner to find the phone if it has been mislaid The command does not lock the phone Lock The Lock function uses the Android lock screen to lock the device This makes it inaccessible to unauthorised users The password for the lock screen can be set in the web interface We liked the fact that a message is displayed on the lock screen which can likewise be defined in the web interface This allows information to be 12 www av comparatives org displayed that would let an honest finder contact the device s owner in order to return it To this end a tele
6. Deinstallation The program can be uninstalled using the Android App Manager The password has to be entered This prevents a thief from simply uninstalling the protection There is also a convenient deinstallation wizard AV comparatives Licence Quick Heal Total Security is available for 5 17 from the Google Play Store 71 Summary Quick Heal has changed the graphic design of the program considerably from last year s version The product is one of the most comprehensive in terms of functionality As well as standard theft protection features and accompanying web interface the software offers useful additional features such as backup and parental control AV comparatives Sophos Security and Antivirus Sophos Security and Antivirus provides all the important components of a modern security product and is available for free 5 SOPHOS Scanner Clean less than one hour ago di Loss amp Theft Vv Feature configured Spam Protection Calls and messages ON Privacy Advisor Privacy Information for 23 Apps available Security Advisor Eai ree system settings Installation We installed Sophos Security and Antivirus from the Google Play Store After the installation the only task is to accept the licence agreement and then the user is taken to the app s start screen An initial malware scan is then started Starting the program The start sc
7. Network Management File Encryption Update Last scanned N A Last updated N A Installation AhnLab provided us with an APK file for the test The installation process is simple Once the licence agreement has been accepted the device has to be registered This is completed in a few seconds without any additional details needing to be entered The user is then taken to the product s start screen Starting the program Once it has been successfully installed AhnLab V3 Mobile can be started There is no form of introductory tutorial so the user must explore the product to find out how it works An initial update is not carried out The real time protection which is activated by default can be switched off and on directly from the home screen All other components can be found in the same place The details of the last scan and last update are displayed along the bottom edge of the screen Initially N A is shown lt 13 www av comparatives org Scan Two forms of check are offered by the Scan module There is the Smart Scan which checks all installed apps for malicious behaviour and the Intense Scan which additionally scans all files on the device The details of the last scan carried out and the next scheduled scan are displayed Settings for this are set in the global configuration menu As well as the interval daily or weekly the time of day can be set Another option in the settings is w
8. Only the privileges in the current category are shown If the app has been assigned to multiple categories the user has to go through all the categories one by one as no overview is provided This makes it difficult to decide if an app really represents a security risk The user can rate the app as Trusted or Questionable This evaluation is apparently sent to CheetahMobile CM Security also indicates that real time protection safe browsing and automatic updates are all activated The SD card and integrated storage can be scanned by selecting Scan SD Card from the context menu AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Automatic scans can be configured in the settings They can be set to run on a daily weekly or monthly basis Clean Up Junk This component is not included in the default configuration and is installed separately the first time the user attempts to access it This takes the user to the Clean Master app in the Google Play Store which is reviewed separately in this report Please see the relevant section for details Find Phone This menu item is for the theft protection component When this is run for the first time the user has to add an account This has to be a Google account An unlock pattern then has to be entered which will be used to unlock the screen This has to contain at least four points Locate This function locates the device and shows its pos
9. SMS Command QQPin registered emergency number This function recovers the PIN It worked fine from the mobile number registered in the theft protection but also from unregistered numbers Program Manager Tab The Program Manager tab has the features App amp Games Download App Update Installation Package Management App Remover and App Permission Manager AESF Q PF RG D ar ze Dl T The App amp Games Download feature allows the user to browse apps from Tencent s own App store The other features provide update and uninstall management for apps on the device With the management function Tor installation packages the user can reinstall APK files that are still present on the device Installation files are listed according to the download source i e downloaded from the Tencent download channel or from Other sources The new feature lists apps with permissions such as among others sending text messages and obtaining the location of the device Additional tools By tapping on the four squares in the upper corner of the GUI the user can access a variety of other tools such a _ mobile fee scanner Besides using the tools already installed the user can download further tools such as a router manager the Kingsoft battery doctor and an assistant to move the user s AV comparatives files and other private data and to a new Smartphone There are also security related features such as an ad
10. calendar entries call logs message logs photos music and videos to be backed up Trend Micro provides 50 MB of cloud storage for this purpose The backup can be started automatically with the user able to select the days of the week when it should run There are options to deactivate the automatic backup when using any mobile data connection as opposed to WiFi or when roaming Restoring backed up data is convenient The program checks the 82 data on the server and suggests which items should be restored Facebook This function is available as a separate app and checks the user s Facebook settings for possible privacy risks This requires the user to enter their Facebook account name and password All Privacy Concerns are then listed Should the user then wish to make changes to the Facebook settings these can be entered directly into the Trend Micro program which will then apply them without any further user action being required Updates Updates can be run manually or automated In the case of automatic updates these can be scheduled to run daily weekly or monthly It is also possible to specify that updates should only be run when there is a WiFi connection Help Trend Micro provides comprehensive help for the program This is detailed but presented clearly Deinstallation The program can be uninstalled using Android s own Application Manager A password is not needed unless the user has set up th
11. web interface It is possible to share the position on Facebook SIM Card Lock This locks the device if the SIM card is removed or replaced In our test it took some time for the SIM lock to take effect A thief thus has 45 seconds of AV comparatives unlimited use of the device after it has been restarted Lock This function locks the device thus making it inaccessible It can then only be unlocked with the correct password Emergency calls can still be made and the user can request a new password to be sent by email The lock function has been much improved since last year We were not able to open the notification bar or bypass the lock screen in any way Siren This command sounds a very loud alarm The device is not locked meaning that it is only suitable for locating a mislaid device Wipe Trend Micro provides two different variants of this function Partial Remote Wipe deletes personal data from the device while Full Remote Wipe resets the device to factory settings By and large the wipe function worked very well in our test although we were able to recover a majority of the data from the external SD card using a common freeware program Trend Micro inform us that a secure wipe would take much longer and use up more battery power We would suggest that a quick wipe could be followed by an overwrite process Backup amp Restore This feature is available as a separate app and allows contacts
12. ESET points out that short passwords are less secure In order to prevent unauthorised deinstallation ESET prompts the user to make the program a device administrator After this the current SIM card is registered as trustworthy The next step is to enter the phone number of a friend or other trusted person The text to be displayed AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 on a locked device can be entered which we liked If the software is to be controlled by text message a password is needed It is possible to use the existing security password but ESET recommends creating a different password for this purpose oO Device Activity Mark your device as missing if it is lost or stolen All important device activity including location and camera snapshots will be recorded at my eset com kwa Intelligent Watchdog Reports all suspicious SIM insertions and screen unlock attempts along with locations and camera snapshots Automatic Lock When suspicious activity is detected or the device is marked as missing it will be locked automatically to prevent unauthorized access to your data and applications Custom Messages Send custom messages to the device finder Remote Wipe Wipe all important data from your device remotely In this year s release ESET has introduced a web interface for the administration of the product and control of the theft protection component A user a
13. It cannot be bypassed and an emergency call can always be made AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 If the command is sent by text message the previously entered four to eight digit Anti Theft PIN can be used If the web interface is used a four digit PIN can be assigned Wipe Text message command BD lt PIN gt WIPE This command resets the device to factory settings and deletes all the data on it The Wipe command can only be sent by text from the number of the previously registered trusted person The function worked well in our test with one exception no data was deleted from the external SD card which was also the case last year CallMe Text message command BD lt PIN gt CALLME This command can only given using a text message When the command has been received the phone number used to send the text will be called and the phone s loudspeaker will be activated This makes it possible to contact the finder of the phone and if this person is honest to arrange for it to be returned Help Text message command BD lt PIN gt HELP An under appreciated but nonetheless very useful command is Help Sending this to the lost or stolen phone produces a text message in reply that contains a list of all other possible commands This makes sense if the phone s owner cannot remember all the possible commands he or she only has to remember one SIM Change If the phone s SIM c
14. Sending this command results in the phone being set to silent This worked perfectly in our tests Lock Screen Text message command lt PIN gt lock This command locks the device using the Android lock screen Set device password Text message command lt old PIN gt set device password lt new PIN gt This command allows the PIN to be changed the old PIN has to be entered first Remote Password Reset Text message command remote password reset lt new PIN gt This allows the password to be reset if it has been forgotten it will only be accepted from the phone number registered for the trusted person SIM Lock This component locks the device when the SIM card is changed The trusted person is 47 www av comparatives org also notified Optionally the feature can also be set to locate the phone at the same time Web Protection The Web Protection component protects the user while surfing the web with the standard Android browser or Google Chrome G Data state that protection is provided against phishing attacks although this is not possible in the browser s Incognito private mode It can be specified in the settings that Web Protection should only be used when the device is connected to the Internet via WLAN The component worked well in our quick test O Website blocked Internet Security has denied access to this website The website is a known phishing site GDATA G Permissions Th
15. a comprehensive range of features including virus scanner text message and call filter browser protection theft protection and more Kingsoft Mobile Security for Android available free of charge and optically very simple As well as traditional malware protection there are additional features such as a spam filter for text messages and battery life protection McAfee Mobile Security is a well thought out suite which as well as the usual functions also includes features such as CaptureCam and Kids Corner Last year s version of Quick Heal Total Security was already rich in functionality and this year is again one of the most comprehensive products The current version has also been given an optical makeover Qihoo 360 AntiVirus which was only available in Chinese last year participates in this year s test with the new English version Important functions are included along with innovative features such as Anti Adware The result reached in this test by Qihoo is not applicable to the English product version available in the Google playstore Due to the misuse of the award by Qihoo in their related marketing the award has been withdrawn Sophos Security and Antivirus provides useful features that actively promote the user s security The Security Advisor which checks critical settings is of particular note as is the well designed Spam Protection component Mobile Security by Trend Micro provides sensible extensions such as
16. a high risk involved in receiving the mTan code on the same phone that is used to carry out a money transfer In western countries assuming you stick to official app Stores and don t root your phone the risk is currently relatively low in our opinion However we must point out that low risk is not the same as no risk In addition the threat situation can change quickly and dramatically It is better to be ready for this and to install security software on your smartphone Currently we would say that protection against data loss in the event of the phone being lost or stolen is more important than malware protection AVC UnDroid Analyser At this point we would like to introduce AVC UnDroid our new F malware analysis tool which is available free to users It is a static analysis system for detecting suspected Android malware and adware it and providing statistics about it Users can upload apk files and see the results in various analysis mechanisms We invite readers to try it out http www av comparatives org avc analyzer http en wikipedia org wiki Sideloadin 210 AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Wwww av comparatives org Test Set We collected the malware samples used in the test during the period of few months leading up to the test 3991 malicious applications were used to create a representative test set So called potentially unwanted apps were not used in t
17. activated The component can also provide alerts regarding unsecured Wifi networks activated roaming for calls and data traffic and storage space used The Application Audit function assigns apps to one of five groups with regard to possible breaches of privacy The categories are payment services location services obtaining the user s identity accessing messages and accessing contacts Updates Updates are carried out automatically The user can determine the interval The possible settings are every six hours every day every third day weekly fortnightly Updates can also be run manually Help For every aspect of the user interface a comprehensive help service can be opened by tapping the question mark symbol This describes the current function in detail Deinstallation An uninstall wizard is provided which undertakes all necessary steps to remove the software from the device The theft protection password has to be entered first thus preventing a thief from removing the protection Thus preventing a thief from removing the protection Licence There is a free version with reduced functionality the Premium version costs af 9 www av comparatives org 9 99 per year It includes additional functions such as scheduled scans phishing protection automatic malware definition updates some theft protection components web interface SIM Guard Wipe SMS Call Filter and Security Audit Summary ESET Mo
18. also integrated although the wipe feature should include the external SD card The overall impression was sound however AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Ikarus mobile security mobile security by Ikarus is a clearly designed security app for Android smartphones It includes important security features such as a malware scanner theft protection and URL filter Your system is protected AntiVirus N Last scan 15 minutes ago Last update on Jul 30 2014 at 11 28 Monitoring Monitoring apps storage and downloads USSD protection disabled URL Filter URL filter enabled Warnings will be shown amp Theft Protection Remote control activated SIM card protection disabled Message Blacklist Message blacklist enabled 1 message rejected Installation We installed Ikarus mobile security from the Google Play Store The setup process is relatively long as it involves setting all the necessary configuration options The first step is to accept the licence agreement Ikarus then runs an update After this comes licensing The user has the choice entering an existing key a QR code can be scanned making an in app purchase from the Google Play Store or activating a 30 day trial version It is also possible to choose the free version of the product which has reduced functionality The first item to be configured is the theft protection The user can switch this on or off If t
19. explicit sexual and pornographic content Alcohol amp tobacco Allow Promotes alcohol amp tobacco products Anonymizers Allow Includes sites for anonymous surfing inni Apart from Malicious content all other categories have a button marked Allow Our initial reaction to this is that the category is currently blocked and that tapping on it will allow it In fact the current status is allowed and tapping the button gives the user the AV comparatives chance to change the setting to Warn or Block We find this confusing and suggest that writing Allowed rather than simply Allow would be much clearer We were also confused by the categories Phishing and Fraud amp Spyware as we would expect these to be included in the Malicious Content Category Sophos inform us that these refer to sites that offer advice to criminals on how to create spyware or phishing sites but are not themselves dangerous to visitors Once we had understood how to configure the feature as we wanted it worked effectively and reliably in our test Updates We were unable to find any information relating to updates Sophos merely states that using the cloud scan will always ensure the latest definitions are used Help Sophos provides the user with a comprehensive help feature for every component in the form of info boxes We feel this is adequate Deinstallation There is currently no uninstall
20. lock is displayed The lock screen is very secure and cannot be bypassed When the device has been successfully locked the sender will receive a confirmation message in return Alarm Text message command Alarm lt password gt This command locks the screen just like the Lock command but additionally sounds an alarm This may be very off putting for a thief Locate Text message command Locate lt password gt When this command has been sent the software on the mobile phone will attempt to locate the device using GPS and WiFi Once this has been accomplished the sender s phone will receive a text message with the co ordinates and a link to Google Maps The initial message provides an approximate AV comparatives position and is followed some time later with a more exact location Locate at Low Battery If this function is activated the location of the device will be reported whenever the battery is low The position will be reported to the trusted phone number Unlock Text message command Unlock lt password gt This command defines a new randomly generated password on the device The sender will receive a text message containing the new password Wipe Text message command Wipe lt password gt Sophos has gone to considerable lengths with the Wipe function The user can define different levels of security for different file types These dictate whether files should only be deleted the first 8 KB of e
21. or hidden numbers In our test ESET displayed a message to say that the blocking of text messages would not work with the operating system on our device Calls were blocked as expected however Anti Phishing This component protects the user against phishing sites while surfing the Internet ESET checks the installed browsers for compatibility According to the manufacturer the feature works with the most common browsers In practice this means that Google Chrome and the Next browser are supported but others such as Opera Firefox Dolphin and Maxthon are not C Chrome Scanned pages 20 B Next Browser Scanned pages 0 Dolphin Browser Not supported Firefox Not supported Maxthon Browser Not supported xXx XXXS Opera Not supported O The phishing protection worked perfectly with Google Chrome in our test If a phishing page AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 is opened ESET displays an alert urging the user to leave the site immediately The Next browser is shown as being compatible but is not ESET inform us that they are aware of this and will rectify it as soon as possible Security Audit The Security Audit feature shows details of system settings and program privileges that could represent a security risk When we tested this we were informed that amongst other things that the USB Debug Mode and the installation from unknown sources were both
22. range of features including anti theft measures It was effective at blocking unsolicited phone calls in our test Suggestions for improvement would be to ensure that the antitheft function really wipes the passwords for Google and WeChat messages along with other data and to various password protect the deinstallation by default AV comparatives Trend Micro Mobile Security Trend Micro s Mobile Security provides important protection features such as a malware scanner and theft protection along with useful additions such as safe surfing and parental controls A TREND MICRO i gt MobileSecurity Protected Total files scanned today Total privacy risks found today B10 x7 Backup amp Restore Lost Device Protection Back up your data now Set up account to enable full protection Expires 8 23 2014 Buy Activate Scan Device Installation We installed the program from the Google Play Store Once the licence agreement had been accepted we were taken to the program s Start screen Starting the program When the program is first started the user is provided with a brief introduction to the product and its use which explains e g that swiping to the right will bring up advanced functionality An info box displays a message that the user should log on with their Trend Micro account or register a new one A prominent orange box also signals that a malware scan should be carried out On Trend Micro s st
23. remove the lock A user defined text can be displayed on the lock screen which could provide an honest finder with the owner s contact details We find this sensible Additionally a telephone number can be provided which will be called if the finder taps the button marked Call Owner the number is not displayed on the screen To unlock the screen the previously defined PIN has to be entered After three incorrect entries the PIN entry is blocked and the device can only be unlocked using the web interface 395 www av comparatives org Lies This device is locked Call owner We found the lock function to be very well implemented It was not possible to bypass the lock or access the phone any other way An emergency call is always possible Wipe data from device This function allows data on the device to be deleted remotely The web interface allows the user to decide which data to wipe Checkboxes can be used to select data on the SD card and or SIM card as well as resetting the device to factory settings If the latter Operation is carried out the anti theft features will not be available any more However it is the only way to remove all user data such as contacts and calendar entries We tested the deletion of data on an external SD card Whilst this functioned as expected we were able to recover the deleted files using a common freeware program Identity Safeguard This feature warns the user in the event
24. spam texts Unfortunately none of the mobile and fixed line phone numbers that were used at the time of the review for unsolicited sales calls was identified in our test Security Tools A large variety of other security and non security related tools can be downloaded and installed via this tab such as flashlight AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 torch WIFI radar energy saver one click root games speed up and many more Secure Payment Secure payment has been given its own tab Users can check their transaction records On this tab the official download link for many popular banking apps is provided Apps such as the taxi app Kuaidi Taxi and the Alipay wallet can run in a Secure environment The safety of the WIFI network can be checked and text messages relating to online payments can be protected Further functions In the lower corner of the main tab the user can finally find the home of the AV scan function next to a function to root the device another memory cleaner an app uninstaller an adware scanner a privacy scanner and a Safe input form for the Baidu search engine The AD scanner reported a privacy risk in Rozio s game Amazing Alex which can obtain the number of the mobile device and recommended deinstallation No other threats were reported AV Scanner Baidu offers two scanning options Complete system scan and Quick scan
25. stolen they must be made less attractive to thieves Consequently many of today s security products contain not only malware protection but also highly developed theft protection functions which make the device less attractive to thieves e g by locking the device and help the owner to find it again This year we have once again tested security products for smartphones running Google s Android operating system Our report covers details of the products made by leading manufacturers who have agreed to participate in our review The test was conducted in July and August 2014 on an LG Nexus 5 smartphone running Android 4 4 2 In the event that a function did not work properly we then installed the product on a Samsung Galaxy 3 Mini with Android 4 1 2 and repeated the test This verifies whether the malfunction is a general one or is limited to the newer Android version We also tested the wipe function deletion of personal data of each applicable product on the alternative device with particular regard to the deletion of data on the external SD card This was necessary as the Nexus 5 does not allow an external SD card to be used In general we found that the current Android version 4 4 clearly has problems with text message blocking features in security products None of the products we tested was able to make this work Many manufacturers warn the user of this Text messages cannot be blocked or hidden under Android 4 4 This is particular
26. that it is possible to track the movement of the device The device can be located at intervals of one hour or six hours Lock Text message command Secure lock lt PIN gt This command remotely locks the device and prevents unauthorised persons from accessing it A customised message can be configured in the web interface this is displayed on the lock screen This can be useful as it can provide an honest finder with the owner s contact details making it possible to return the phone This can also be changed by text message using the simple procedure of adding the lock screen message to the end of the lock command The Lock function can be combined with the Alarm function which is explained in the following section This function worked extremely well in our test It was impossible for us to access the Android home screen notification bar or other view Additionally it was always possible to make an emergency call AV comparatives Alarm Text message command Secure alarm lt PIN gt This command sets off a shrill siren which can be useful if the phone has been mislaid It can also be used in combination with the Lock function which may persuade a thief to abandon the phone CaptureCam Text message command Secure alarm lt PIN gt The CaptureCam function uses the device s front camera to take a photo which is then sent to the user by mail This allows the him or her to see who is currently using the phone McAfe
27. the device A new Bitdefender account can be created or an existing Google account can be used 29 www av comparatives org Finally the product has to be licensed There are options to try the product for 14 days buy a licence or enter an existing licence key Starting the program When the installation has completed the user is taken to the program s home page A prompt to complete a scan in yellow and an orange banner reminding that a 14 day test version is being used catch the user s eye When a malware scan has been carried out the status display will show one of three possible states Green indicates that all is well while yellow or red indicate smaller or larger security risks requiring the user s intervention Last scan N A Bitdefender does not report on the status of updates This is because the malware definitions are not saved locally but reached via a connection to Bitdefender s cloud service Malware scanner The malware scanner allows the user to scan installed apps for malicious programs As an option the phone s memory can also be included in the scan An automatic scan of the installed apps runs during the installation process The malware scanner requires an Internet connection due to the cloud being used for malware detection Privacy Advisor The Privacy Advisor analyses installed apps to see if they record private user data and thus threaten the user s private sphere To avoid ove
28. this purpose It is not clear to us why the word length is limited A sub menu entry displays all calls and texts that have been blocked previously We note that the word blocking is case sensitive we do not understand the sense in this However we would describe the Anti Spam component as well designed and clear overall Call blocking functioned perfectly although text message blocking did not work in this year s test It would appear that the product has problems with the Android version used in the test 4 4 2 as noted above the text blocking function worked as expected with Android 4 1 2 Network Management AhnLab bundles together all network related functions under Network Management When the device is connected to a wireless network WLAN a pop up message box appears that allows the user to deactivate WiFi remember the current connection or to block it Known wireless access points can be managed using a list Data usage over mobile networks can be limited When usage has reached a pre defined limit the user is warned The Network Monitoring page displays data usage Statistics These can be sorted according to connection type i e mobile or wireless Data usage can also be displayed according to whether the data was downloaded or uploaded 15 www av comparatives org Wi Fi 0B 0B 0B 0B 0B 0B A 7 1 7 2 7 3 7 4 7 5 7 6 7 7 Data use over last 7 days Today 5 06 MB Uplink 427 29 KB Down
29. 60 is a free antivirus product which includes real time protection and anti adware function However there is no theft protection Please note that the Chinese version of the software has a much greater range of functions than the English version reviewed here The result reached in this test by Qihoo is not applicable to the English product version available in the Google playstore Due to the misuse of the award by Qihoo in their related marketing the award has been withdrawn 36O Antivirus g Privacy Protection Anti Adware Anti Disturb Cleanup Installation We downloaded AntiVirus 360 as an APK file from the manufacturer s website http shouji 360 cn sd and used this to install the product G 360 Fils Lm HF HAKE 64 The first step is to accept the licence agreement Additionally the user can opt out of the Experience Improvement Program The user is then taken to the program s start screen Starting the program A large button on the program s start screen enables a quick scan to be run In the upper section of the screen a message is shown indicating that Super Mode should be activated in order to enable a number of features Antivirus The user has the choice of Quick Scan run from the button on the program s home screen or Full Scan run from the context menu The Quick Scan checks all installed applications for malicious software The Full Scan additionally checks t
30. 78 MB A limit for data usage can be configured In the event that this is exceeded Quick Heal can intervene and block the network connection This can help prevent unnecessary costs if the user has a limited data volume in his or her mobile phone contract Secure Data Secure Data is Quick Heal s cloud backup service Contacts calendar entries messages photos music and videos can be backed up The user is provided with 1024 MB of storage Space There is also a function that will automatically back up the device when it is being charged The backup cycle can be set to daily weekly fortnightly or monthly Recovering data is just as simple as backing it up When restoring text messages we were shown a notification that Quick Heal had to be registered as the SMS app in place of Hangouts When the backup had completed Hangouts was restored as the default text message application It is possible to delete the backed up data from Quick Heal s servers There is another feature that securely deletes personal data from the phone itself Contacts calendar entries messages files on internal and external storage and data on the SIM card are all wiped This feature may be useful if the user wants to sell the phone Contacts Calendar Events Messages SD Card Internal amp External LU 1 U 1 U 1 1 oO SIM Data Contacts amp Messages AV comparatives Set Privacy This group includes all the functions that bloc
31. French Spanish Russian French Spanish Italian Polish Romanian Spanish Turkish Vietnamese English French Italian Spanish Portuguese Supported Program languages English Korean Catalan Hungarian Italian Spanish Korean Dutch Polish Turkish Japanese Portuguese Vietnamese Chinese Japanese Bulgarian Malay Norwegian Polish Russian Turkish Chinese Turkish Portuguese f Spanish French German Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Slovak Serbian Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Chinese Portuguese Romanian Japanese Chinese Russian Spanish Swedish Tagalog Thai Turkish On Install and On Demand scan of Installed apps can works offline only on rooted phones afe Webbrowsing ock Apps App launcher especially for kids Parents can choose apps Uninstallation protection password required for uninstallation ettings protected with password Task Killer Battery Monitor mail suppor er gt Spanish English Portuguese Czech Danish German French German English French Italian Dutch Russian Spanish Portuguese Chinese Japanese Malaysian Korean English Czech French Spanish Portuguese Turkish Polish Russian German Chinese Italian German English Spanish English Russian German English German Italian French Portugese English German French Spanish Italian Chinese Chinese Italian Japanese Chinese Hindi English Japanese Dutc
32. Play or reputable app makers own stores Avoid third party stores and Sideloading Another indication of untrustworthy apps is irrelevant access rights For example an app that measures the speed at which you are travelling has no need to access your phone book or call log Of course even if an app does this it is not a clear cut indication that it is malicious but it makes sense to consider whether it is genuine and should be used A look at the reviews in the app store is also a guide avoid apps with bad or dubious reviews If you Root your smartphone you will have more functionality on the phone but equally the opportunity for malicious apps to take control will also increase Another point to consider is the warranty It is not legally clear cut whether the warranty is still valid if the phone is rooted In many cases the warranty will be considered null and void How great is the risk of infection with an Android smartphone This question is difficult to answer as it depends on many different factors In western countries if using only official stores such as Google Play the risk is lower than in many Asian countries especially China There are many rooted phones and unofficial app stores which increase the chance of installing a dangerous app In many Asian countries the smartphone is used as a replacement for the PC and is frequently used for online banking Banking apps are also becoming more popular in Europe and the USA There is
33. Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org AV Comparatives IEL 9 ale TTG nte eee enc eae eck eee eee 3 DIG 5 Broducts tested T ete eee cee eerie 7 Batten usage e cesses crack eve enc set ees eee oer 8 Malware protection results essssessssesesee 10 AVC UnDroid Analyser csccececscseeeees 10 Android Device Manager ssceseceeeeeees 12 ANDED V3 Ge s 12 avast Mobile Security esse eee ee eee eee 17 Avira Antivirus Security eee 22 Baidu Mobile Security ccccecscsecececeees 26 Bitdefender Mobile Security cecceseees 29 CheetahMobile Clean Master seceeees 33 CheetahMobile CM Secunty sse eee ee eee e 36 ESET MODILE Security er a snes 39 F Secure Mobile Security esse eee eee eee 43 G Data Internet Security ccceceeeceeees 46 Ikarus mobie Secut Meuse scarce tes eees Sl Kaspersky Internet Security scecceeeess 53 Kingsoft Mobile Security esse eee eee eee 57 McAfee Mobile Security sss sese eee eee ee DU Ahoa COAN 64 Quick Heal Total Security ssssessssesesseseee 67 Sophos Security and AnnViuS sss s xs e 72 Tencent Mobile Manager cecscsseeceees 76 Trend Micro Mobile Security ceseeceees 80 Webroot SecurityAnywhere Mobile Complete 84 SUMMA S AA A a A A E E A 87 Appendix PermiSSiOnS cscescecscseeeeees 88 Appendix Feature St sees eee eee 89 Copyright and Disclaimer sss see ee e
34. RRRR i oiea TT IT T E T S ETT TIE IST Read user dictionary lead terms you added tothe dictionary TT e change network connecte e connect and disconnect from P eT e control Near Field Communication me Google Play billing service Te Network communication Google Play license check Te receive data from Intemet o o ooo S eel full network access lee view network connections lee le view Wi Fi connections lee le S access Bluetooth settings Te pair with Bluetooth devices TTT Teel Your application information ares running anes O O O T ed Pw de fe tee A Other Application UI draw over other apps Tele Tw allow Wi Fi Multicast reception ooo Se S Affects Battery control flashlight T ETT T TT control vibration Je Jejeje o prevent phone from sleeping CC Cl ol of ole Slags adjust your wallpaper size ooo TTT setwallpaper TRT S S ey Write user dictionary add words to user defined dictionary o OS S SS o Audio Settings change your audio settings o S ejeje To read sync settings eas a a ee Sync Settings toggle sync on and off expand collapse status bar location provider commands elete all app cache data install shortcuts Status Bar S location sources for testing L shortcuts 5 L GE R a a el 2 212 2 27212 2 Islalalolo loloa A v alajajajlajajv D Qo lll v uja I n Yn lso we eat D S Q 3 2 x Qjo lt D x O E S A D lt Z Selle e G olojo v o eS
35. RSShSEBNARBERAC HFA MAFA DUE BAY MARS BAKES App Behaviour Manager ABM lt MARTA BE 2 8 SS RR KR Adobe AIR SEEMS G CamScanner BUST amp Google Play Dienste SHEM amp Linkedin BUR On the App Behaviour Manager tab all installed apps are listed On sub tabs apps are listed that may consume too much energy have in app advertisements or require permissions considered to be privacy relevant such as accessing the SMS logs or call logs AV comparatives Disturbance blocker The Kingsoft app can also filter spam texts and nuisance calls As spam texts and uninvited sales calls are still troubling Chinese mobile phone users such a feature is highly appreciated Users are willing to participate by e g reporting the numbers used for spam texts and unsolicited sales calls The app correctly identified various mobile and landline phone numbers currently being used for unsolicited sales calls However if a local call is made without dialing the area code the nuisance blocker does not work and the call is allowed even if the same number is blocked when the area code is used Payment Guard Like many Chinese vendors Kingsoft has added a payment guard feature This feature is designed to keep safe text messages received during online payment transactions with e g confirmation numbers Such texts can either be stored on the payment guard tab or immediately deleted after the win
36. Saver This tab displays the estimated battery time left By adjusting running apps the user can prolong the time until the device needs to be charged again a AV comparatives lt aN L 2 TH 16 ns 20 IES THM Amazon Kindle BeERBSALE lt 1 Main menu The screenshot below shows the main menu The first menu item is the access to the app behaviour log The log displays app behaviour that can be monitored and behaviour that has already been blocked In the software settings the user can activate deactivate the monitoring of the following app installations energy usage of apps their advertisement behaviour their privacy related behaviour malicious web addresses Use of the cloud scan function can also be set The app can be configured to update only when the device is connected to a WiFi network Sending feedback to Kingsoft can also be restricted to WiFi only The heuristic engine is still in beta and the user is 58 informed that enabling it can reduce the scan speed In a final sentence highly visible in red text the app tells the user that for normal usage the heuristic engine does not need to be enabled We were amazed to see the whitelist for malicious apps which can be found in the settings tab It should not be possible to move malicious apps to any whitelist If this is not its true purpose the description should be adjusted to make clear what it does do lt mew AA eMA
37. The malware definitions are updated automatically By default the cloud scan is active and all app installations are checked The same Aochan app that had just been declared to be safe by the Baidu AD scan was reported to be malicious by the Baidu AV scan which encouraged us to uninstall the app immediately The Baidu spaceship After installation of the Baidu app our test device had a tiny circular object at one side of the mobile desktop Dragging this object to middle of the screen starts a plane which thunders Star Wars like over the screen riding a laser beam This action performs a quick clean up of the device 298 www av comparatives org Deinstallation There is no uninstallation wizard No password is required to uninstall the product Because there is no anti theft component this might not be a problem as uninstallation protection is not required Licence Baidu Mobile Manager is free Summary Baidu Mobile Security is still an easy to use product with important security features like nuisance protection and safe payment The accuracy of the nuisance call detection should be improved however Any danger detected by any module of a security product should be clearly visible throughout the app Users with no technical background might believe that as long as the health score of the mobile device displayed prominently on the main tab is high no other checks are necessary Health score VIRUS Further
38. The user can add known troublemakers to a list which then prevents them making further contact Numbers can be added manually or imported from the contacts list call log or text message log It is also possible to block communications from hidden numbers Webroot also provides protection against text messages with links to dangerous websites Calls and texts which have been blocked are shown in a clearly laid out list The date and content of the messages can be seen along with the reasons for blocking them Detect SMS From Blocked Caller Detect and notify when an SMS or MMS message is received from numbers contained in your Blocked Numbers list Block Unidentified Numbers Block calls where the caller ID OFF is Unknown or Blocked Block Malicious SMS Blocks SMS messages containing links to malicious or phishing websites In our test calls were blocked as intended Text messages however were not We put this down to incompatibility with Android 4 4 Webroot does not warn the user of this 85 AV comparatives Blocking of text messages on our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 worked properly App Inspector The App Inspector checks installed apps for possible breaches of the user s private sphere Examples would be apps that have access to text messages or the phone s location function Tapping a category of risk shows the relevant applications No further details of the apps are provided there is
39. ach file is overwritten or completely overwritten with junk files Unsurprisingly the latter takes somewhat longer In our test this worked as intended The files on the SD card were deleted and could not be recovered SIM Change If the device s SIM card is changed the software will send a message to all registered trusted numbers containing the IMEI and IMSI of the device The device will simultaneously be locked using the Android lock screen Spam Protection This feature protects the user from unwanted calls and text messages Call blocking and text message blocking can be activated deactivated separately from each other However the setting then applies globally i e the setting for the blocking function applies to all mails or all texts without exceptions for individual numbers or addresses An intuitive menu allows the user to create a whitelist i e list of numbers which should never be blocked and likewise a 73 blacklist i e list of numbers that should always be blocked Should the user accidentally enter a number in both lists the whitelist will take precedence Users can optionally block calls and texts from hidden numbers or from all numbers not found in the contacts list If the SMS blocker is active Sophos claims to protect against malicious hyperlinks in text messages Numbers never blocked E 0 phone numbers p Numbers always blocked P D 0 phone numbers Block calls with hidden caller ID
40. acy At Risk Re scan gt 1 problem s found E a Malicious sites are kd attacking Justnow P First scan completed Successfully finished your first ever scan In our test when the virus scan was completed a notice was shown stating that Malicious sites are attacking along with a Defend button Tapping this button only took us to the Google Play Store from where CheetahMobile s own browser could be installed We found the choice of words to be unnecessarily alarming and feel a more neutral way of pointing out the safe browser would be appropriate We repeated the test a number of times also using a second device on one occasion the same warning was shown on others there was a different message App Manager The App Manager displays a list of installed apps In our case it showed that four browsers were installed taking up a total of 108 MB of storage space Individual apps can be uninstalled directly from this menu A Suggestion is made to uninstall the current browsers Opera Dolphin Maxthon and Firefox to recover space while the CM browser is promoted AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Choose browsers to remove Dolpnin Browser Baa einen Browser reste Se n O p Ultra small browser just 1 6MB E Liana Vailable At the end of the list of installed apps is a further list of recommended apps approximate
41. acy No issues found Auto scan On Web security Security On Backup Last backup Less than an hour ago Find device Device administrator Yes v Subscription Installation We installed McAfee Mobile Security from the Google Play Store The user has to accept the licence agreement this is the only interaction required of the user Starting the program When the program is first started both a privacy scan and an initial malware scan are run After this the program s start screen is shown This indicates that the backup function has not been configured All the other components are shown in green meaning everything is OK In our test an Orange 2 character was shown at the top of the screen Tapping this shows that the two items are a activating the lock screen and b installing McAfee Mobile Innovations The items are deemed important The latter enables the user to test other McAfee apps 60 that are still at the Beta stage of development Whilst this may be a nice idea we feel it should not be described as important McAfee inform us that they have taken note of this recommendation Security Scan This component allows the user to check the smartphone for malicious software The scan can be set to run automatically The interval can be set to daily or weekly The scope of the scan can be set in the options By default Full Scan is set but this can be changed to App Scan or Custom Scan
42. age command lt PIN gt locate The Locate function establishes the device s position and sends the co ordinates of this to the sender s phone along with the MAC address of the router to which the device is connected where applicable We feel it would make more sense to provide a direct link to the phone s position on a map service such as Google Maps We suspect many users will wonder what to do with the co ordinates or at least find it inconvenient to have to use them G Data inform us that they would have to use third party software to send links to Google Maps as these are often over the 160 characters available in a single text message and they prefer not to do this AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 As well as the text message an email is sent to the phone s owner this does contain a link to Google Maps The settings contain an option to locate the phone when its battery is low Delete Personal Data Text message command lt PIN gt wipe This command deletes personal data from the smartphone The phone is reset to factory settings in the process When we tested it the feature worked as intended However none of the files on the SD card was deleted Play Ringtone Text message command lt PIN gt ring This command sounds an alarm on the smartphone This only stops when the G Data Internet Security app is opened Set phone to mute Text message command lt PIN gt mute
43. ard is changed e g by a thief a text is sent to the previously registered trusted person This person should then inform the owner there is then no point in trying to use text message commands to lock or locate the phone However the feature did not work in our tests We replicated the scenario exactly but no text message was sent and there was no 234 www av comparatives org evidence of any other activity being carried out by the security product However on the alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 the feature worked perfectly Upload Location This feature uploads your last known location to http my bitdefender com before the phone s battery runs out App Lock App Lock is a new feature in Bitdefender s suite It password protects individual installed apps The user can specify which apps require a password For example opening the Gallery can be made demand the entry of a PIN This could be used e g to prevent children from using particular functions of the phone Bitdefender Mobile Security BP E This app is locked Type your PIN to continue 0 Forgot your PIN Log in to to recover it Updates As Bitdefender Mobile Security does not include an offline scanner but always uses the Bitdefender Cloud service to check for malware and update function is not required Help There is no help function as such within the program Each function does however have its own short explanatory t
44. art screen are buttons for accessing results of the malware scanner and data theft scanner along with the backup and anti theft components In the lower part of 80 the screen is a prominent Scan Device button which carries out a quick scan Action Required 1 Scan Device Now Virus Scanner Tapping the Virus Scan button takes the user to the functionality of this component There is also a quick scan button on this screen along with a multitude of possible settings such as whether the SD card should be scanned and if the real time protection is activated It is also possible to configure a scan to run each time an update is carried out The results of updates and scans are listed in a log Privacy Scanner The Privacy Scanner checks installed apps for risks relating to spying and aggressive advertising Trend Micro also offers real time protection for this component which checks newly installed programs for such threats The apps listed below collect your private information or show unusual behavior i Possible risks are shown in different threat categories We found the results displayed in our test to be convincing Questionable apps are thus shown as Medium Risk whilst well known safe apps such as the Opera Browser are deemed Low Risk Tapping on an entry in the list displays details of the app s privileges and a brief explanation Each app can then be uninstalled or added to a list of trusted prog
45. as deleted The second variety of wipe additionally restores the device to factory settings Text message command fullreset lt PIN gt When we tested this all the data was deleted although the theft protection was no longer active this is inevitable It was possible to recover the data on the external SD card using a common freeware recovery program SIM Watch This component recognises when a new SIM card has been inserted e g by a thief If this happens the device is locked Additionally text and email messages can be sent to previously specified addresses The feature worked well in our test The device was locked and notifications were sent to the phone number and email address we had registered Updates Updates can be run manually by simply tapping the start screen Automatic updates can be set to run every day or every week without any additional action being required by the user The time of day for the update can also be set Help Kaspersky Lab offer a very extensive help feature This offers enough assistance to cope with any problems that may arise In most dialog boxes there is a VERY small question mark symbol which if tapped will take the user to the relevant help page for the feature Deinstallation To uninstall Kaspersky Internet Security the user must remove the app from the list of device administrators A password must be entered to do this This makes sense as it prevents a thief from si
46. atives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 on the lock screen It would be possible to display contact information here for example If a text message command is used the sender will receive a text by return containing the co ordinates of the device s current location This is very inconvenient however It would make more sense to us if a direct link to a map service were provided Ca U G In Alarm Text message command Alarm lt PIN gt This function locks the device and sounds an alarm This can be useful when trying to find a mislaid phone Again a message can be displayed on the lock screen Mugshot This function is intended to take photos of the thief using the device s front camera These are then displayed in the web interface This helps the owner identify the thief This command can only be sent via web interface there is not text message command Wipe Text message command Wipe lt PIN gt The Wipe function deletes the owner s personal data from the device This prevents confidential information falling into the hands of unauthorised persons Kaspersky Lab offers two different types of wipe The first of these deletes just the personal data from the device This includes contacts messages calendar entries and the Google account The theft protection remains active in this case In our test all the data 55 www av comparatives org except the browser history and bookmarks w
47. bile Security stood out in last year s test as a product that combined comprehensive functionality with usability This year s product is made complete by the addition of the web interface Our overall impression is of a solid and reliable product AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 F Secure Mobile Security F Secure Mobile Security provides all the important functions of a mobile security product There are sensible additions in the form of parental control and a web filter MOBILE SECURITY Your device is protected e F Secure Subscription 350 days left WE WILL PROTECT YOU www f secure com amp Application Privacy Installation F Secure Mobile Security was installed from the Google Play Store The first step of the installation process is to accept the licence agreement The user can opt out of the default setting to send anonymous usage data to F Secure The product has to be activated whereby a 30 day trial period is possible The program is made a device administrator in the process of installation F Secure recommends running a scan after installation Starting the program When the program is first started a message appears warning that some services have not been activated This is indicated by the exclamation mark next to the Anti Theft component 43 www av comparatives org Anti Theft The theft protection component is not activa
48. block only calls only texts or both Numbers can be entered manually or imported from call text logs In our test the call blocking function worked exceptionally well There were however problems with text messages as had been warned of We found that the function worked unpredictably Behaviour such as this is clearly less desirable than not having a filtering function at all On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 the text blocking function worked well Privacy Protection When this function is activated there is again a warning from Kaspersky Lab that there may be problems sending and receiving messages with the current Android version 4 4 The user then has to accept a licence agreement which principally concerns the use of the user s private data After this KIS must be made a device administrator It announces that it should ideally be the only program with device administrator privileges and thus Suggests removing Google Play Services from the list This step can be skipped however A 54 www av comparatives org Kaspersky Account then has to be registered This requires an email address and a password with at least 8 characters including lower case letters upper case letters and numbers Finally the user is prompted to define a security code with 4 to 16 characters Kaspersky Lab recommend writing this down and storing it in a safe place and also using keys that are at least seven characters lon
49. ccount for this can be created during the setup process This concludes the activation of the Anti Theft component The Anti Theft menu is then displayed on the program s start screen The Optimization entry now stands out as it has been highlighted in orange and an exclamation mark indicates that the user s attention is required If the icon is tapped ESET informs the user that the lock screen has not been activated For this reason the security status is shown as only four out of a possible five Stars Once the lock screen has been set up the maximum score of five stars is displayed Other indicators of security are defined by ESET Location service active GPS active screen lock active mobile data active Google Play services present All the Anti Theft commands can be given by text message or web interface http my eset com If the web interface is 40 www av comparatives org used the device has to be registered as missing as a first step before using the theft protection features This automatically takes all the important steps required in the event of the device being stolen the device is locked its location is registered and a photo taken the latter two at regular intervals We feel this has been very well engineered Recent activity 09 39 Device locked 09 38 Device locked Recent location Recent camera pictures 7 5 6 SIM Guard This feature is intended to prevent an unauthorised chang
50. cious web pages from dialing damaging phone numbers An automatic malware scan is also provided which can be scheduled to run hourly daily or weekly The same applies for updates these can also be started manually Secure Web Browsing This feature is intended to protect the user when surfing the Internet If the user believes that a website has been blocked in error this can be defined as safe whereby Webroot will not block it any more In our quick test with Google Chrome this functioned very well Webroot blocked access to www kanslojistik com wp content themes twentyten santander Logon htm This webpage is a known source of malware or spam Visiting this page will put you at risk Block this page Continue to page Never block this site AV comparatives Lost Device Protection The theft protection can be controlled by text messages or a web interface https my webrootanywhere com The latter is graphically well designed and intuitive to use It also allows the administration of multiple devices from one account The web interface displays information on the protection status of each device along with logs for things such as malware detection Scream Text message command scream lt password gt This function locks the device and emits a shrill siren This can be stopped with a simple tap Lock Text message command Lock lt password gt This function locks the device in order
51. ct and now both Google Chrome and Dolphin browsers are also supported The protection worked well in our test Safe Contacts This allows calls and texts from specified numbers to be blocked Numbers to be blocked can be entered manually or imported from the contacts list or call log This creates a simple blacklist which is used to block the unwanted calls and texts Outgoing communications to these numbers are also stopped It is not possible to distinguish between calls and texts for blocking purposes either both are allowed or both are blocked In our test F Secure blocked phone calls effectively but not text messages However on our alternative device with an older B www av comparatives org version of Android text messages were also blocked Updates Updates are carried out automatically The user can decide whether updates should be downloaded only when the phone is connected via his her own provider or also whilst roaming Help For every function a help window can be opened by tapping the question mark symbol This contains detailed instructions which should prove entirely adequate Deinstallation Deinstallation is password protected Under the More menu Uninstall is an uninstall wizard Once the password has been entered the program will be removed straight away To uninstall using the Android App Manager the suite has to be removed from the list of device administrators the password has to be enter
52. ction in many of the tested products The manufacturers of the affected products have taken these problems very seriously and are already S working on solutions Overall we have noticed a marked comparatives improvement in the quality of the products relative to last year We are therefore pleased to give almost all the participating products our Approved Award Unfortunately it was not possible to give this award to Tencent s security app due to its score in the malware protection test Qihoo has also not been awarded as their tested product version is currently no longer available and not the same as in the Google playstore AhnLab V3 Mobile provides the most important security functions for Android Additional features include file encryption and a network monitor This year s version of avast Mobile Security has been extended to include Applocker and Privacy Scan features It is a very comprehensive security product with a wide range of configuration options Avira Antivirus Security is an attractively designed security app for Android and provides all the important functions The theft protection feature is controlled by a web interface Innovative components such as Identity Safeguard complete the product Baidu Mobile Security is an extremely easy to use security product for Android smartphones It provides many features such as optimisation functions an app manager and anti spam Bitdefender Mobile Security has been o
53. d Security Measures informs us that the network monitor parental controls automatic backup and Personal Security features have not been activated Scan Device This component allows the device to be scanned for malicious software The user can choose between a quick scan and a custom scan The quick scan only checks the installed applications whereas the custom scan allows the user to select the entire device only the storage card only specific apps or only selected folders for scanning Full Scan Scans device and memory card This may take C t me Scan All Apps Scans all installed apps Scan Selected Apps Scans apps selected by you O Scan Memory Card Scans only the memory card O It is also possible to schedule scans to be run automatically in the future This feature has been implemented very well The user can create multiple scan jobs if desired The time and scope of each scan can be specified along with the frequency The options are daily weekly or monthly It is also possible to start a scan each time the phone is connected to its charger Security Advisor The purpose of Security Advisor is to bring to the users attention any possibly unsafe configurations on the Android smartphone In our test the program found fault with 5 AV comparatives settings It was noted that the device had not been encrypted and that the screen lock had not been activated Quick Heal also pointe
54. d out that apps could be installed from unknown sources and that USB debugging had been activated A simple tap on the cogwheel next to the entry changes the settings to the suggested optimal configuration Privacy Advisor This component checks installed apps for possible breaches of the user s private sphere To this end all installed apps are listed with icons to indicate which permissions each app has Tapping an entry displays its details and a short description A button at the bottom of the screen allows the app to be uninstalled directly Firefox Jul 9 HOB0SBS Optimize Device This part of the program is devoted to optimising the performance of the device An overview of the current state of the smartphone is displayed showing CPU load battery state and RAM usage There is a menu item entitled Kill Running Apps which initially just displays a list of currently running applications These can be sorted by RAM usage or CPU load Apps can be individually selected using checkboxes and then closed There is a whitelist to which any apps can be added that should be excluded from the Kill process The feature s Network Summary shows the device s data usage in a graph this is divided into WiFi and mobile network connections Additionally data usage in the last 30 days can be shown for each individual app 68 Mobile Networks J U 0B h 0B 40B Z Wi Fi Networks Jul h 265 83 KB 8 04 MB 7
55. d been blocked However this was not the case and the manufacturers should deactivate the pop up to avoid confusion On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 the function was clearly available and worked as expected It allowed text messages to be blocked using the same filter as for calls along with text message filtering using freely defined keywords Web Security The Web Security function protects the user against malicious websites while surfing the Internet We ran a quick test of this feature in which it worked very well Ua McAfee SiteAdvisor a 9 Warning Suspicious Site Wait Are you sure you want to go there The link you clicked is taking you to http disbren com ec apple apple ap McAfee tested this site and found files that contain viruses spyware or other potentially unwanted programs Read the site report E Keep me safe Visit anyway AV comparatives McAfee also provides a WiFi Security module This displays a warning in the event that the user connects to an unsecured network Backup In case the device should be lost or stop working McAfee has implemented a backup function This allows text messages call logs contacts and media files such as videos and photos to be saved to a McAfee server The backed up data can be viewed and downloaded via the web interface Backups can be run manually or automatically In the latter case the interval cannot be s
56. d deletes all personal data from the device meaning that it cannot be accessed by anyone else if the phone is lost www av comparatives org or stolen This involves resetting the device to factory settings Ikarus theft protection deleted the files on an external SD card however it was possible to recover them using a popular freeware program Lock Text message command lock lt password gt lt Password gt As soon as this command has been sent the device is locked using a lock screen The sender will receive a text message confirming this The lock screen was very secure we were unable to bypass it It was also possible to make an emergency call at all times Locate Text message command Locate lt password gt When the phone has been located the sender receives a reply with the phone s current co ordinates and a link to its position on Google Maps Alarm Text message command Alarm lt Password gt lt Password gt This command is identical to Lock except that it additionally sounds a loud siren This works even if the phone is set to vibrate rather than ring SIM Card Protection If the SIM card is changed the phone will be locked It can then only be used if the correct password is entered Message Blacklist This blocks unwanted text messages by blacklisting senders The user interface is very simple and merely allows numbers to be added or removed Choose contact Recent messages Ente
57. detector and a scanner that checks for suspicious text messages relating to payment transactions The mobile fee scanner reported 10 text messages related to online payments with the taxi app Didi as suspicious However texts related to payments with the taxi app Kuaidi were not mentioned In the update published after the review this function has been removed The WeChat security function probably deserves a more prominent location in the app as this feature is designed to protect your WeChat account and any messages which are not deleted after a remote data wipe with the QQErasseAll command of the antitheft protection The Tencent rocket After installation of the Tencent APP our test device had a tiny icon at one side of the mobile desktop obviously intended to display Tencent s measurement of how much memory of the test device was being used If the user drags this circular display to the bottom of the screen Tencent closes processes and frees memory Deinstallation The user is asked for the reason Tor uninstalling the app but there is no deinstallation wizard and no password is required to uninstall the product This is a problem as regards the anti theft component because a thief could simply uninstall the protection 79 Licence Tencent Mobile Manager is available free Help text Tencent features are explained within the app with short in program help texts Summary Tencent Mobile Manager has a wide
58. dow displaying the text has been closed by the user lt 31T R STT 01 MAMARE 6 15 TV fF E H SEY fy lt gt 02 tm TARH Be 1 ZL YH 2 X Z pS amp 03 D THT ESTEE RAEE 59 Update Help amp Uninstallation Updates are automatic Except for the help with the payment guard all in program help is easy to understand No local help or links to online help could be found Users can send their feedback directly from the main menu and also suggest new functions No password is needed for the uninstallation of the app Licence Kingsoft is available free of charge Summary Kingsoft Mobile Security remains an extremely easy to use product but unfortunately still does not have a theft protection function We strongly recommend that this function should be added the danger to a user s privacy in the event of the phone being stolen or lost should not be underestimated The integration of the AV scan into the checkup function makes the app easy to use even for absolute beginners AV comparatives McAfee Mobile Security McAfee Mobile Security provides all the important functions that can be expected of a security product for Android The free version provides a wide range of features and a Premium licence is only required for the media upload sub component of the Backup feature w McAfee Mobile Security w Your device is secure Security scan No threats found Auto scan On Priv
59. e App cache trash files OS cache and leftovers of already uninstalled apps After the standard trash removal the app tells us to clean up the WeChat storage manually AV comparatives AE TEAM t A 123 8M D 0015 12 fi S18 SRF EGF hi TG SAF Ce w CPA gt it A SAR e Energy Manager Tencent Battery Manager is an application that has to be installed separately Storage Manager The Storage Manager scans for rarely used apps video files and photos Photos and video files can be moved to the SD card of the device Security Protection Tab Under this tab Tencent lists all available security functions which are as follows Nuisance calls and text spam Tencent has integrated functions to prevent the user being disturbed by nuisance calls and text spam As well as the usual blacklist and whitelist functions the software also has a feature that allows the user to report spam messages and nuisance phone numbers to Tencent During our test the feature correctly identified various phone numbers that are currently used for unsolicited phone calls Payment protection This feature is designed to provide a safe environment for apps such as Alipay Wallet or WeChat These apps can be started directly from the payment guard tab Before the app interface is started it reports that it is 77 checking for phishing websites the QR code and Wifi safety Privacy protection Tencent Mobile Manage
60. e are deleted too However there is the disadvantage that the theft protection components are also removed Remote Location Tracking Text message command locate lt password gt When this command has been transmitted the sender s phone will receive a prompt reply containing a link to the phone s position in Google Maps along with co ordinates Although we understand the term tracking to mean continuously locating the device over a longer period of time the feature actually performed very well SIM card swap If the SIM card is swapped a text message with the device s location will be sent to the number specified by the user during setup The device will also be locked In our test this feature did not work No text message was sent and the device was not locked However in a second test on a device running Android 4 1 2 the feature worked as expected Anti Spam AhnLab s Anti Spam component allows calls and texts from specific phone numbers to be blocked A number of ways of adding numbers to the blacklist are provided Numbers to be AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 blocked can be added from call and text message logs the contact list or by entering manually For each individual number it is possible to block only calls only texts or both Text messages can also be blocked according to their content Keywords of between two and ten characters can be defined for
61. e Permissions component shows apps with special privileges Apps are listed according to their permissions e g Internet Access or Location Calls 1 Applications permitted to initiate calls Y SMS 2 Applications permitted to send SMS Internet access 11 Applications permitted to access the Internet T Tapping on a category displays all the apps with this permission Tapping on an app shows its own individual permissions we did not think this was displayed very clearly The app can be directly installed from this view or added to Protected Apps see below AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Protected Apps This prevents unauthorised use of particular apps An obvious usage case is where parents wish to prevent their children using specific apps which they deem unsuitable It is thus possible to set a password which has to be entered before a particular app can be used If the user has forgotten the password this can be sent by email It is thus important to protect the email app with a different password if the email address used for the password reset is one that is synchronised on the device G Data does not point this out to the user It is also sensible to password protect the security program itself in order to prevent it being uninstalled by a thief G Data does recommend this step along with password protecting the Android settings and Google Play Store Pa
62. e eee 90 Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Introduction Smartphones represent the future of modern communications In 2013 more than 1 billion smartphones were sold a further milestone in the advance of these devices A study published by Facebook emphasises the importance of smartphones in our lives about 80 of users make use of their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up each day At the same time the traditional function of a telephone is becoming less and less important The high quality of integrated cameras means that the smartphone is increasingly used for photography As well as with photos users trust their devices with their most personal communications such as Facebook WhatsApp and email This brings some risks with it as such usage makes the smartphone interesting for criminals who attempt to infect the device with malware or steal personal data There is also the danger brought by phishing attacks These days the use of security software on a PC or laptop is seen as essential However many smartphone users do not yet have the same sense of responsibility even though their devices store personal data private photos Internet banking information or even company data As modern smartphones are often expensive to buy they are also an attractive target for thieves Top quality smartphones cost several hundred Euros As it is not possible to physically prevent them from being
63. e emergency calls from it In addition the lock screen is not very secure Simply pressing the Home button displays the Android start screen This can be used to navigate and show the installed apps Programs can also be started although the lock screen is shown again after a few seconds In our test we were able to navigate to the text message containing the lock password The lock component is thus not fit for purpose Remote Data Delete SMS command fremove lt password gt This command deletes personal data from the smartphone The device is not reset to factory defaults which has the advantage that the anti theft software is not removed and so its functions remain active Although the text messages were not removed the component largely worked well All contacts files Ade www av comparatives org calendar entries browser history and bookmarks were deleted In a second test using a different device with Android 4 1 2 the text messages were erased too However PDF and ZIP files were not deleted from the external SD card on the 4 1 2 device Media files such as JPG MP3 MP4 and AVI were successfully deleted However we were able to restore a majority of all deleted files on the external SD card using a freeware tool Remote Wipe Reset Text message command kill lt password gt This command resets the device to factory defaults In contrast to the Remote Data Delete function text messages on the devic
64. e have developed a clever method which ensures that the thief s face is photographed not the inside of a trouser pocket The basic functionality of this feature is perfectly acceptable but we wonder why the photos taken with it cannot be seen in the web interface which shows all other relevant data We have another more severe criticism of the feature In the event that the screen is locked probably the owner s first action after realising that the device is missing the clever method of photographing the thief will not work In this case the owner is in effect faced with a choice lock the device OR take a picture of the thief Wipe Text message command Secure wipe lt PIN gt This command deleted the owner s personal data This does not cause the device to be reset to factory settings which has the advantage that the theft protection remains installed and active The owner can choose which data is deleted for example contacts text messages SD card photos videos In our test all the selected data was deleted although it was possible to retrieve the data from the external SD card using a popular freeware program Restoring the device to factory settings Text message command Secure reset lt PIN gt This command deletes personal data as with the Wipe command Additionally the device is 63 restored to factory settings This means that the theft protection can no longer be used After carrying out this procedure w
65. e individual components of the suite Active components show a green tick checkmark inactive components have a grey button The Premium version of the software can be tested for 30 days free of charge an email address has to be provided In the upper part of the screen a_ tick checkmark and the text Maximum Protection are displayed This might give a false impression as the antivirus is the only active component all the others are inactive Antivirus The antivirus component lets the user scan the system for malware The depth of the scan can be configured As well as manual scans automatic scans can be defined There is also an On Charger Scan which is triggered by the connection of the device s charger We find this sensible It is also possible to see the quarantine list of ignored threats scan logs and update history Malware definitions can be updated with a single tap The extended settings allow the activation of automatic updates interval of between six hours and two weeks plus the configuration of real time protection and ESET s Live Grid The default action to be taken in the event of malware discovery can also be set There is a choice of Remove or Quarantine Anti Theft This has to be activated before it can be used but ESET provides a very convenient wizard for this purpose The first step is to create a security password of at least four characters A password hint can also be added as a reminder
66. e of the SIM card If an unregistered SIM is inserted the smartphone will be locked This functioned perfectly in our tests Making an emergency call when the phone was locked would still have been possible and entering the security password unlocked the phone A new feature this year is that after five failed password entries further entries are blocked for a period of time This is intended to make it more difficult to bypass the lock with brute force attacks Lock Text message command eset lock lt password gt This command locks the device and thus prevents unauthorised access If the lock is initiated by text message the sender will AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 receive a reply with the IMEI number of the phone and the IMSI number of the SIM card The lock is robust we were not able to bypass it It is possible to make an emergency call and also to contact the owner Siren Text message command eset siren lt password gt This command locks the device and emits a shrill siren at the same time This may be helpful in simply locating a mislaid phone e g at home or may encourage a thief to abandon the stolen device Find Text message command eset find lt password gt If this command is given by text message the sender will receive a reply with the co ordinates of the phone s location and a link to this on Google maps If the web interface is used the dev
67. e parental control feature If this is the case it is not possible to bypass the password entry As mentioned above we feel the password protection should be global to prevent a thief from simply uninstalling the theft protection Licence The basic version of Trend Micro Mobile Security is available for free For the premium functions namely safe surfing parental control including deinstallation protection location lock wipe and SIM lock a licence is required This costs 19 95 for a year The premium functions can be tested free of charge for 30 days AV comparatives Summary Trend Micro provides the user with sensible protection features for Android smartphones We particularly liked the parental control feature which we felt was very well designed We do however feel that the deinstallation protection should be made a global feature available even if the parental controls are not set up Trend Micro inform us that they will attempt to do this in the future We are pleased to see that the suggestions for improvement we made last year have been implemented in this year s product 83 AV comparatives Webroot SecurityAnywhere Mobile Complete Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile Complete is a balanced security product which has a feature limited free version For users who require more functionality a premium version is available WEBROOT SecureAnywhere Mobile You are protected No issues de
68. e were still able to recover data from the external SD card SIM Guard This feature locks the device if a different SIM card is inserted This might happen if a thief inserts his or her own SIM card When we tested this the function worked but we did not receive any notification Updates Updates can be carried out automatically This can be configured to run daily or weekly The user can also run an update manually Help McAfee provides various Help features There is an extensive Help page and every page of the app has an info button tapping this shows a quick start guide to the item in question Deinstallation An uninstaller is provided which undertakes all necessary steps to remove the product including removing it from the list of device administrators A PIN has to be entered meaning that a thief cannot simply uninstall the theft protection Licence McAfee Mobile Security is available free of charge from the Google Play Store A Premium licence is available for 2 49 a month or 29 99 a year this provides the backup function and telephone support and removes advertising from the product Summary McAfee has produced a well implemented security product for Android with numerous features The theft protection is reliable and can be controlled using a web interface We were happy to see that most of the features were available in the free version AV comparatives Qihoo 360 AntiVirus Qihoo 3
69. eature is supposed to protect against However it worked perfectly in our quick test with phishing sites CM Security Reminder You are now visiting Malicious Website at 45 eCU e0 Continue Visiting Close Website Call Blocking This component can block calls from particular numbers It works on the blacklisting principle i e the user has to enter the numbers to be blocked These can be entered 38 www av comparatives org manually or imported from the contacts and or call logs The feature worked well in our tests Care is needed when entering phone numbers manually however Calls are only blocked if the number is entered with the relevant international code but without the leading zeros e g 436991234 for a number in Austria Updates Updates can be carried manually by tapping the appropriate button Automatic updates are also offered however no information about the frequency is provided Help We were not able to find any type of help function Deinstallation The product can be uninstalled using Android s own App Manager It is not necessary to enter a password This means that a thief could simply remove the theft protection software Licence CheetahMobile is provided free of charge Summary CM Security is a mature security product The theft protection worked effectively and reliably We liked the fact that almost all the functions are essentially well implemented H
70. ed in this case too Licence F Secure allows users to test all the functions of the program free for 30 days When this time has expired the user has to purchase a licence to continue using the program this costs 7 45 for six months Summary F Secure gave a good account of itself in our test We were particularly impressed with the easy navigation and the parental control component Safe Browsing has been extended to include alternative browsers which we find very sensible AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 G Data Internet Security G Data Internet Security provides a malware scanner and theft protection which is controlled by text message G Data has also specialised in features for children such as a special browser for children and a Children s Corner at LC Internet Security Virus scan Lost Stolen sc Web protection Gy Permissions s Protected apps So Parental controls Incoming filter AZ Outgoing filter Installation We installed G Data s suite from the Google Play Store The first step is to enter the user s name and email address An existing licence key can be entered at this stage or the product can be activated as a 30 day trial version The user has to accept the licence agreement and can choose to opt out of allowing personal data to be used for advertising purposes The theft protection can then be configured A PIN of at least fou
71. een will be locked as soon as the phone is restarted after the SIM card change preventing access to it Furthermore they have reacted quickly and solved the problem in the latest release 9 2 15359 The function did work properly on our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 Application Privacy This function scans all installed apps for possible privacy breaches F Secure defines 44 www av comparatives org three levels of risk Many Some and Few Tapping a category in the software displays the apps contained within it We liked the simplified way that F Secure uses to display the app privileges For example the privilege ACCESS FINE LOCATION is shown in the list as Knows where you are Lists and ranks all installed applications that might compromise J a your privacy 0 O Some privacy issues 6 00O Applications installed in total 8 Additionally a comprehensive description of the privileges is provided If the user decides that an app is breaching his her privacy this can be removed directly from the security software Anti Virus This component protects the system against malware The data of the last scan and last update are displayed The device can be scanned manually or automatically on a schedule The interval for scheduled scans can be set to daily weekly or monthly The day of the week and time of day can also be set Cloud Protection can be deactivated or set only to run when this w
72. ers in China dial numbers or receive phone calls the Kingsoft App displays which province directly governed municipality region or country incoming calls or dialled numbers belong to UH SR 59 w BREE 2 MATHER Installation We searched for the Kingsoft app on Baidu and downloaded the version that was marked as Official Version The end user license agreement is already marked as accepted The app is free of charge Starting the program When the program is started for the first time a very simple and clear menu with only two buttons i e Super Energy Saver and App Behavior Manager is shown Complete checkup After opening the app GUI the user sees in the center of the window a circular display with the results of a complete checkup The Kingsoft app checks for system leaks viruses and Trojans energy wasting apps malicious advertisements and malicious privacy related behaviour Problems detected by the app can be repaired with a single tap In its final diagnosis of our smartphone the Kingsoft app reported one OS leak that it recommended we should patch immediately Rovio s Amazing Alex was reported because it can obtain the phone number of the device which according to the in program description can lead to text message spam In the current version of the app the AV scan is integrated into the complete checkup Q HENA G waa OQ AKB R Super Energy
73. ers with the most complete view of available software The review of the available functions can be found on page 122 A general problem regarding theft protection which affects many products is airplane mode This can be activated even when the smartphone is locked If this mode is activated all contact with the outside world is lost thus rendering theft protection mode completely ineffective Not all the functions such as locking wiping and locating will work This applies equally to text message controls and the web interface Malware protection This component scans the mobile phone for malicious software which it deletes or quarantines For this function to work effectively it has to be kept up to date When travelling abroad users need to be careful that automatic updates and cloud scans do not incur high roaming costs from the mobile service provider The results of our Android malware protection test can be seen on page 11 Battery usage Many smartphone users will have found themselves in a position usually towards the end of the day in which they wished they had a portable power station with them The multiple functions of smartphones mean that even energy efficient smartphones cannot prevent substantial battery usage GPS location services email Internet and the larger displays in modern smartphones result in the device eating up the power If the smartphone is used intensively the battery can be run down by the afternoon To p
74. et only the option to run backups exclusively over WiFi A backup of contacts text messages and call logs can be initiated from the web interface and also media in the Premium version This could be useful if the device is lost as the user can at least back up his or her data Contacts and text messages can be restored directly from the phone When we tested this we found that we were only able to recover the contacts We then found a note in the Help explaining that the data restore function is not supported with Android 4 4 We re tested on our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 and the feature worked perfectly Another function of the Backup component is the secure deletion of data on_ the smartphone Contacts call logs photos videos and files on the SD card can be deleted This could be useful e g if the user wanted to sell the device Find Device This menu item takes the user to the theft protection The function can be controlled via a web interface https www mcafeemobilesecurity com or by text message commands 62 W McAfee Mobile Security S EINSTELLUNGEN SUPPORT Mein Gerat orten Locate Text message command Secure locate lt PIN gt This function locates a lost or stolen device The phone s position is displayed in Google Maps If the command is sent by text message the sender will receive in return a link to a McAfee web page with an integrated map from Google Maps We liked the fact
75. etector which shows all the advertising networks that are integrated into an app Google Analytics AdMob etc are thus displayed The permissions of the ad networks are also shown For example the user can see if an ad network has the right to locate the device or display ads in full screen mode or show advertising banners Collect device or mobile network information AdMob GoogleAnalytics Collect data on user behavior inside the app GoogleAnalytics Collect location information AdMob Show in app banner advertisements AdMob Application Management The Application Manager makes it possible to check installed and running apps for CPU load RAM storage space etc and to shut them down SMS and Call Filter To prevent the user being bothered by unwanted calls and text messages avast provides the SMS and Call Filter This allows the user to create groups of numbers that should be blocked The times at which calls texts should be blocked can also be specified 20 www av comparatives org 1 Group detail New Group Block incoming SMS blocking does not work or version of Android 4 4 2 Block outgoing Tu 12 00 AM 11 59 PM Numbers can be taken from the address book and call logs and anonymous or unknown callers can also be specified The feature relies on the blacklisting principle Thus all callers are allowed that do not belong to one of the blocked groups avast makes clear to the use
76. explicitly warn against confronting a thief Manufacturers have two possible means of controlling their theft protection software One is text message commands which are sent to the lost or stolen phone and set off the relevant functions The other is a web interface Each has its own advantages and disadvantages The advantage of text message commands is that they almost always work even if the device is in another country The user needs to have the commands to hand however and also requires access to another mobile phone in order to send them By contrast web interfaces are generally intuitive in use and provide an easy means of controlling the device The disadvantage is that the lost or stolen device requires an active Internet connection in order to work this may well be deactivated if the phone is taken to another country The location function could also be to locate the person carrying the phone which in some cases could constitute misuse It is possible to install a security product on someone else s phone or give someone else a phone with the software already installed in order to track that person s movements This may be deemed legitimate in the case of parents keeping an eye on their children but not necessarily in other cases The Android operating system has a basic but reliable theft protection feature called Device Manager built in to it We have also tried out the available functions of Android Device Manager to provide read
77. f malware have exactly the same scope which they misuse Mobile security software protects the users against the majority of these dangers and has now become indispensable in our view Nonetheless many smartphone users do not protect their devices with such software and are thus exposed to risks This is completely unnecessary especially as a number of products are even available free of charge Our tests have also largely countered the argument that security products negatively affect the performance or battery life of smartphones 87 AV comparatives Permissions in Android OS 4 4 2 irectly call phone numbers Phone calls read phone status and identity reroute outgoing calls di l s x s a FATS Ser fen your tet nse HE HS T S e a eo as i PRS ee as R poom fena UUU Yourlocation TE TE ae i Your soca information ea o aiaia a aeaaeae DAA __ _ oe EFS ere e cl cen a eis EN WinNOU nels owleteee Your personal information read calendar events plus confidential information s G HE O O E OO G G G ode G O E T te web bookmarks and hoy OEE EET rel VOLES STS SS SE RoW T A sr Rar TTT R E EH 5 ce R eel EH E eel x GT a e E G 9 G G G C ws ole G FETs Sa IE e El n eln Ea lea e arn HT TE EEEE S L STO E E EEL CCH EC E E G L el Se R BRNS HD terene COON sst cm ee WBE BOZI Rai T ETT T T T EET E T TE BHD R 88 ESSN i E CS
78. ficial Tencent website When the program is first started the Tencent end user licence agreement has to be accepted default setting Additionally the Tencent app encourages the user to configure the Tencent text message module as the default application for receiving and sending text messages After the first start a mobile phone health check is carried out automatically The resulting health points are displayed in the middle of the Check Up amp Speed Up tab The user can optimize the device by tapping the circular display The tuning function ends processes frees memory and clears out trash files This brings the health of our device up to 95 points An additional 5 points are offered for the activation of the payment protection feature Health optimisation tab On this tab Tencent offers mobile speed up a data traffic manager and links to download and install an energy manager and a storage space manager fe ER a ER RIS DI S RIE BRER Dg Data Volume Manager Tencent s Traffic Manager displays the daily and monthly data traffic The monthly data limit according to the user s service contract with the mobile phone service provider can be entered into the program s settings so the current data usage can be displayed as a percentage of this With our Unicom Prepaid card the check worked as expected Space cleaning With this feature Tencent scans the mobile device for WeChat storag
79. g When activation 15 complete Lhe configuration menu for Privacy Protection is displayed This module allows specific contacts in the address book along with texts and call logs to be hidden The contacts to be hidden can be defined using a simple menu This component worked largely very well in our test The contacts and call logs were hidden Text messages could still be seen in the Inbox however The names of the senders could not be seen however having been hidden in the address book Deactivating Privacy Protection requires the entry of a PIN It is possible to configure the program so that contacts are automatically hidden after a certain time Anti Theft Kaspersky Lab s theft protection can be controlled using a web interface http anti theft kaspersky com Text message commands are also available although had considerable difficulty in finding these in our tests Lock and Locate Text message command Find lt PIN gt This function allows a lost or stolen device to be located and locked The locate function displays the phone s location on Google Maps The device is simultaneously locked using Android s own lock screen which is very secure and cannot be bypassed A user who has forgotten the PIN can obtain a recovery code via the web interface This is 16 characters long and allows the original PIN to be read in plain text We liked the fact that it is possible to display a personalised message AV compar
80. h NOrwegian Polish Russian Suomi Swedish Turkish Korean English German French Italian Japanese Chinese Supported languages of support English Korean Chinese Chinese English All Romanian German Chinese Japanese Portuguese Turkish P 7 7 Copyright and Disclaimer This publication is Copyright 2014 by AV Comparatives Any use of the results etc in whole or in part is ONLY permitted after the explicit written agreement of the management board of AV Comparatives prior to any publication AV Comparatives and its testers cannot be held liable for any damage or loss which might occur as result of or in connection with the use of the information provided in this paper We take every possible care to ensure the correctness of the basic data but a liability for the correctness of the test results cannot be taken by any representative of AV Comparatives We do not give any guarantee of the correctness completeness or suitability for a specific purpose of any of the information content provided at any given time No one else involved in creating producing or delivering test results shall be liable for any indirect special or consequential damage or loss of profits arising out of or related to the use or inability to use the services provided by the website test documents or any related data For more information about AV Comparatives and the testing methodologies please visit our website AV Comparati
81. he feature is to be used mobile security has to be registered as a device administrator and also as a Home App 50 www av comparatives org Select a home app IKARUS mobile security Launcher It is then necessary to define a password which has to consist of at least six characters including at least one letter and at least one number When this has been done a brief introduction to the theft protection s text message commands is displayed The blacklisting function and URL filter web protection are also configured during the installation When the setup has been completed Ikarus recommends running an initial malware scan Starting the program When the program is first started its start screen is displayed At the top of the screen is a status display which in our case stated Your system is protected The dates and times of the last update and scan are shown AntiVirus Ikarus antivirus component allows the user to scan all the installed apps or the entire system An automatic scan can be scheduled whereby the possible intervals are twice daily daily every second day or every week Malware detections can be seen in a log At the bottom of the screen is a checkbox that allows anonymous malware statistics to be sent to Ikarus the user can opt out of this Monitoring This is Ikarus term for real time protection which checks new apps and changes in the file system and also provide
82. he function does not work with Android 4 4 2 our main test version Text messages were blocked successfully on our alternative test device with an earlier version of Android 94 www av comparatives org Upgrade An update can be purchased from Avira that adds a Secure Browsing component This protects the user against malicious content whilst surfing the web Additionally the upgrade provides comprehensive customer Support and hourly updating virus definition files Updates Updates are carried out automatically The interval is fixed and cannot be changed In the free version of the software an update is run every day in the premium version every hour A manual update is not possible Help The Help link in Avira s menu leads to Avira Answers This website is very inconvenient to use with a mobile phone Avira Answers is a community forum that allows users to discuss common questions Deinstallation Avira has to be removed from the list of Device Administrators before it can be uninstalled A wizard is provided that takes care of all necessary steps The user is asked for his her reasons for uninstalling the software though this step can be skipped Deinstallation does not require a password to be entered This makes it possible for a thief to uninstall the software if the owner has not yet remotely locked it Licence Avira Antivirus Security is available free from the Google Play Store The Premium version w
83. he home page of the software displays an alert that the program is not registered as a device administrator A message box explains that this must be configured to allow remote wipe by resetting the device to factory defaults It is also noted that device administrator privileges are also required for AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 the remote lock function on some tablet PCs Tapping the Activate button makes Avira Antivirus Security a device administrator whereby the status shown on the product s home page is changed to Protected Play Sound The alarm function sounds a shrill siren for 20 seconds The device is not locked as the purpose of the function is to allow the user to find the smartphone again when it has been mislaid rather than to scare off a thief Find Device This feature finds the device and displays its location on Google Maps The address of the location is also shown If multiple devices have been connected with the same account these can all be seen together on the same map The process of locating the phone has to be started manually each time it is needed a continuous tracking facility is not included Lock Device This feature uses a lock screen to prevent unauthorised access to the phone Via the web interface the user can put in a four digit numerical PIN which can then be entered on the phone to unlock it Alternatively the web interface can be used to
84. he memory Qihoo s cloud services are used for both scans This feature is activated by default but can be switched off in the settings Real time protection is also provided Super Mode This mode is required for some functions such as the Privacy Protector Ad Blocker Notification Blocker and Autostart Blocker However activating Super Mode does not automatically root the device Tips Sorry your phone is not supported yet Receive The attempt to activate Super Mode on our Nexus 5 failed with a notification that the phone is not currently supported We were however able to activate the software on our alternative device with an earlier version of AV comparatives Android Qihoo inform us that Super Mode will work on a Nexus 5 if the device is rooted Privacy Protection This component enables particular privileges of installed Android applications to be blocked In our test Qihoo announced that it could optimise an app It noted that a third party app File Explorer needed access to WiFi The user can decide whether access for this specific app should be allowed or blocked or whether the user should be asked each time The program s settings allow a log of past events to be seen The feature worked well on our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 but not on the Nexus 5 with Android 4 4 2 Anti Adware This component removes advertising from apps installed on the device this is quite differen
85. he test The security products were updated and tested on the 11 July 2014 The test was conducted with an active Internet connection on genuine Android smartphones no emulators were used The test set consisted exclusively of APK files An on demand scan was conducted first After this every undetected app was installed manually We did this to allow the products to detect the malware using real time protection We additionally conducted a false positive test using the top 100 ad free programs from the Google Play Store None of the products tested produced any false positives with these apps Protection rate results 1 AhnLab G Data 100 2 Avira Bitdefender McAfee 99 9 Cheetah Clean Master Cheetah CM Security Kingsoft Trend Micro 3 Avast 99 8 4 ESET Kaspersky Lab 99 7 5 Quick Heal 99 5 6 Ikarus 98 9 7 Baidu Sophos 98 8 8 Webroot 97 4 9 F Secure 96 1 10 Tencent 83 8 lt 66 EJT R Avira Baia BE ee icheetahmobile CDATA GSO Ahnlab Cf cheetahmobile es eT avast be free SIKA RUS KASPERSKY2 MICRO F Secure WEBROOT 98 100 MH 93 98 MH 88 93 EE 80 88 E 0 80 gt The result reached by Qihoo in this test is not applicable to the English product version available in the Google playstore which is different to the version that Qihoo provides in Chinese and English on their website Therefore the results of Qihoo are not shown here AV comparatives
86. her blacklisting or whitelisting can be selected If whitelisting is used there is the option to allow calls with hidden numbers There is also a choice of action to be taken when a call is blocked Reject Set device to silent and Reject and send text message 81 reply are the available options If the option with text message reply is selected there are 3 possible ready made reply messages or users can create their own manually The text message blocking feature was not offered on our primary test device but was shown and worked properly on our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 We find this design actually very good as only those functions that will actually work on a specific device are shown This is much preferable to displaying a component along with message boxes advising of a malfunction Lost Device Protection This is Trend Micro s name for theft protection Standard features such as locate lock and wipe are provided The feature is controlled using a web interface text message commands are not available Y Verlustschutz man L Mp a sa banus 2 te D Scestocense ten S Changing any of the settings in Lost Device Protection requires the password to be entered meaning that a thief cannot simply deactivate the service Locate The Locate function finds the location of a lost or stolen device and displays this on Google Maps The action is carried out automatically as soon as the user opens the
87. hether Potentially Unwanted Apps i e apps that users possibly do not wish to install on their devices should be blocked AhnLab suggests adware spyware and dialers as examples of such applications Scheduled Scan v e Interval Daily Weekly Mon Theft protection To use this feature the user has to enter a password with between 4 and 8 characters Additionally the product must be made a Device Administrator Overall the setup process is very simple AhnLab uses text message commands to control the theft protection component an overview of these is shown Using an entry line the user can check the correctness of text commands and test them straight away A web interface is not provided AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Lock Text message command lock lt password gt lt message gt This function locks the smartphone securing it against unauthorised usage The password previously configured has to be entered to unlock the phone We liked the fact that a personal message can be displayed on the screen Another plus point is the fact that after ten failed password entries a text message with the phone s location is sent to the phone used to initiate the lock command Ahnlab V3 Mobile 2 0 Y The device is remotely locked Password However we also have to note some minus points When the phone has been locked it is no longer possible to mak
88. hich includes the Safe Browsing feature hourly updates and extended support costs 7 95 per year Summary Avira s Antivirus Security is a well designed security product for Android smartphones The theft protection can be controlled using an equally well engineered web interface Innovative functions such as Identity Safeguard complete the product Avira AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 appears to be aiming for quality rather than quantity The scope of functionality is relatively limited in comparison with other products but the components that are included have been implemented very well We would however like to see password protection for the uninstaller 25 www av comparatives org AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Baidu Mobile Security Baidu Mobile Security is a free security product which offers many functions including mobile tuning app management protection against nuisance calls and spam and texts antivirus mobile protection payment dod Q FANE WIRE MARE EEE Q nue L ees ay Installation We downloaded Baidu Mobile Security from the official Baidu download site without any difficulty The installation was very simple Starting the program When the program is started for the first time the Baidu mobile payment protection is recommended to the user The end user licence and the option t
89. however have some criticisms We found that holding down the phone s power button activated aeroplane mode whereby neither text messages nor the web interface would work Additionally the emergency call function is blocked when the phone is locked which could be dangerous in some situations Siren Text message command lt PIN gt SIREN ON This command sounds the same siren as for the lock function but does not lock the AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 device It is thus not a security feature but helps the user to find a mislaid phone Locate Text message command lt PIN gt LOCATE lt INTERVAL gt This command is used to determine the location of the phone Once it has been sent the sender receives a text message in reply with co ordinates cell information and network provider The optional parameter interval specified in number of minutes can continually track the phone even when the command is sent by text message The user has the opportunity to use the web interface for this function in which case the movement of the phone is displayed on a map Naturally this is much better suited to tracking the phone than a series of text messages The tracking can be stopped by sending the command lt PIN gt LOCATE STOP Wipe Text message command lt PIN gt WIPE This function deletes the user s personal data from the smartphone avast offers a number of differen
90. ice can be continuously tracked Multiple locations are registered and displayed making it possible to follow the movement of the phone Wipe Text message command eset wipe lt password gt This function is intended to delete all the user s personal data from the mobile phone The device is not reset to factory defaults meaning that the theft protection software remains active after the wipe In our test all important data was deleted with the exception of text messages due to the restrictions of the new OS On our alternative test device running Android 4 1 2 the text messages were deleted as expected Other functions If the device is registered as stolen ESET s software will automatically take photos with the phone s front camera These can be viewed in the web interface This might help identify a thief a41 www av comparatives org The mobile network to which the device is currently connected is also noted This helps to identify the phone s location Additionally all this data can be exported and downloaded as a ZIP file This can be given to the police to aid investigations SMS and Call Filter This function allows very comprehensive rules to be created for blacklisting and whitelisting calls and text messages Rules can be created that will block or allow particular communications from particular numbers at particular times Rules can be created for specific numbers or for groups such as unknown numbers
91. ief cannot simply uninstall the theft protection Licence A reduced functionality version of Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile can be used free of charge without time limitation For users who require more functions the premium version which includes uninstall protection SIM lock Wipe and various app inspectors can be purchased This costs 3 68 for a year Summary Webroot s Secure Anywhere performed well in our test Even the free version offers reliable theft protection and various filters which protect the device well The uninstall protection SIM lock and various app inspectors make the premium version an attractive proposition Although some functions such as the lock were exemplary we still feel that some elements of the theft protection should be improved AV comparatives Summary For some people smartphones have already replaced the PC Other users save personal and professional information that could be very interesting for criminals Phishing is a potential weak point for anyone who uses the Internet regardless of the type of device used Credit card details Saved in shopping apps or the Google Play Store as well as the mobile phone contract can be abused by malware or unauthorised users resulting in financial losses for the owner The potential for attacks is substantial especially with an open operating system that allows honest developers plenty of scope as regards programming Unfortunately creators o
92. in the antivirus component is updated and a scan is performed Starting the program When the program is started a well designed home screen is displayed In the middle of the upper part of the screen a picture of the user is shown along with a message stating that the user needs to take action This is because the anti theft component has not yet been set up 22 www av comparatives org The home page also lists the most important functions A context menu which can be opened by swiping from the left allows the profile to be edited settings to be changed and the help function to be started Antivirus The Antivirus component can be found in the menu entry of the same name It allows installed apps and files to be scanned for malware Avira shows statistics regarding the number of checked apps and files and the date of the last scan At the end of the list the version of the currently used virus definitions is shown along with the date of the next automatic update A manual update is not possible The user can use the settings to change the categories of threats to be detected Adware is selected by default and PUA Potentially Unwanted Applications can be selected in addition Anti Theft Avira s theft protection component is controlled by a well designed web interface http my avira com Text message commands are not available The web interface allows multiple devices to be managed from one account T
93. ip AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Deinstallation There is no uninstall wizard The PIN has to be entered before the software can be removed thus preventing a thief from removing the theft protection Licence Bitdefender Mobile Security PREMIUM can be tested for 14 days without charge After the trial period a licence has to be purchased to continue the use of the software This costs 9 95 for a year or 0 99 per month using in app purchase 235 www av comparatives org Summary Since last year s review Bitdefender Mobile Security has been graphically reworked and extended to include the App Lock function The features are well thought out and largely worked very well Only the SIM Change function did not work with the latest Android version AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 CheetahMobile Clean Master CheetahMobile Clean Master is a security product that specialises digital cleaning of the mobile phone The components are Antivirus Junk Removal and Memory Boost There is no theft protection CLEAN MASTER Ch STORAGE Today cleaned 0 0B Total 0 0B ii JUNK FILES MEMORY BOOST g ES ANTIVIRUS APP MANAGER Installation CheetahMobile Clean Master was installed from the Google Play Store No further configuration is required after the installation the user is taken to the program s Start scree
94. ither blacklisting or whitelisting can be used for this purpose Either blacklisting or whitelisting can be used for this purpose With blacklisting the user decides which numbers to block all others are allowed It is also possible to allow any and all numbers from the contacts list A checkbox allows the user to decide whether to accept communications from unknown numbers In our test call blocking worked reliably but it was not possible to block text messages This is certainly due to the Android version 4 4 on our main test device On the alternative AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 phone with Android 4 1 2 the text message blocking function worked as expected G Data does not inform the user that the function will not work with the newer Android OS Entries for the blacklist and whitelist can be imported from the call log or address book or entered manually Hide Contacts The Hide Contacts component of G Data s suite can hide communications from specified contacts or the contacts themselves To this end G Data uses its own messenger program which takes over the task of sending and receiving text messages In our test this did not work Both outgoing and incoming messages were shown Once again we put this down to incompatibility with the newer Android version On our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 the function worked perfectly As with the text blocking feature G Da
95. ition in Google Maps When the web interface is opened the device is automatically located Yell This command sounds a shrill siren for 60 seconds whereby the device is not locked The function can be useful for locating a mislaid phone Lock This command locks the device requiring the previously entered pattern to unlock it The function works very well we were unable to 37 www av comparatives org bypass the lock We also liked the fact that a telephone number and email address can both be displayed on the lock screen thus helping an honest finder to return the device A Hi lost this device Can you please help me get it back Please contact me via amp 123456 The lock screen is not perfect however It is not possible to make an emergency call which would be dangerous in an emergency We were also able to open the Android Notification Center from which the device can be put into aeroplane mode In this state neither text messages nor the web interface can contact the theft protection software rendering it effectively useless A more positive point is the complete locking of the screen for a minute after multiple failed unlock attempts This makes brute force attacks more difficult Wipe The Wipe function deletes personal information from the phone making it inaccessible by third parties The first time we tried to test this the relevant button was not shown in the web interface and so
96. just a link to Android s App Manager Review Apps App Inspector found the following potential issues Apps that can Access your messages Cost you more money Access sensitive information Track your location Drain your battery Battery Monitor The Battery Monitor provides detailed information about the device s battery such as charge level temperature and voltage The bar graph used in last year s version showing the battery usage of individual apps could not be found in the current version Network Monitor This displays details of apps that use the network In each case the name of the protocol internal and external IP addresses and ports and the status are listed Tapping an entry conducts a who is search of the IP address and provides details of the Internet service provider and the approximate position of the device 86 Apps Accessing the Network FFFF 192 168 20 130 55185 Remote FFFF 173 194 70 188 5228 Status ESTABLISHED Updates Updates are carried out automatically Possible intervals are hourly daily and weekly It is also possible to run a manual update Help Webroot provides a comprehensive help feature for most functions in the form of a pop up An extensive help file is also available Deinstallation An uninstall wizard is provided to remove the program which can be done with a single tap The deinstallation requires the password to be entered meaning that a th
97. k dangers and spam Call and Message Filter This component blocks unwanted calls and text messages As soon as we started the feature it informed us that text message blocking is not available with Android 4 4 Numbers to be blocked can be entered manually or imported from call logs and contacts It is also possible to block patterns in phone numbers These can be defined as Starts with or Ends with For each individual entry the user can block just calls just texts or both Keywords can be used for text message filtering Any text message containing a keyword will be blocked Text message blocking did not work in our test though this was to be expected as Quick Heal had warned of it Rejection of unwanted calls worked as intended however On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 both call and text blocking worked perfectly Privacy Protection This function makes it possible to hide particular contacts along with their texts and call log entries Again when starting the function we were notified that it would not work with text messages under Android 4 4 Text messages were blocked on our secondary test device with Android 4 1 2 but as announced not on the newer device with Android 4 4 here contacts were hidden and text messages were shown with just the number not the name Overall we would say the function worked well Parental Control This feature is intended to protect children from harmf
98. link 4 64 MB File Encryption File Encryption allows individual files to be encrypted A file manager allows multiple files to be selected and encrypted with an alphanumeric key The result is a file with an AED extension which cannot be opened unless decrypted this is also carried out using the AhnLab application There are no limitations on the type of file that can be encrypted so pictures videos PDF files and so on can all be secured In our test the files were correctly encrypted and decrypted but the application crashed after each procedure Updates Updates can be installed manually or set to run on a schedule The user can decide whether to download these exclusively over WiFi or use the mobile phone network as well Help AhnLab provides a very well ordered help function We particularly liked the step by step instructions We were however irritated by the fact that pressing the Back button returns the user to the start screen or start of the help There is also no zoom function which is a shame as all the text is very small Deinstallation There is no uninstall wizard provided but there is a step by step guide in the help To start with AhnLab V3 Mobile must be removed from the list of Device AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Administrators The Android App Manager can then be used to uninstall the app We note that it was not necessary to enter a password to u
99. lude theft protection Licence CheetahMobile Clean Master is available free of charge with full functionality Summary CheetahMobile Clean Master adopts a different approach from most of the security products in this test There is no theft protection the focus instead being on digitally cleaning the device The cleanup function allegedly freed up astonishing amounts of storage We regard the risk of loss or theft as being ever present Although the antivirus and cleaning components work well we feel that the product would be made complete by a theft protection module Users should be aware that the software may suggest removing some existing programs from other manufacturers and replacing them with CM products which are supposedly smaller or faster AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 CheetahMobile CM Security CM Security is available free of charge and offers useful functions such as antivirus and theft protection Nuisance calls can also be blocked using the integrated call filter CM Cleanmaster Security AV TEST s most frequent 1 app Safe System is protected Installation CM Security was installed from the Google Play Store The installation was unproblematic and once started it required no further user interaction Starting the program When the program is first started a yellow status display is shown along with a message that a security scan has not
100. ly 100 Swiping to the right changes the user interface to Picks where particularly popular apps are listed Another page of the program shows APK files that have been found on the file system This is oriented towards removing the files although it would be possible to execute a file and thus install its app A further function of the app manager is to move other apps from the internal storage to an external SD card This could be useful if the internal storage were limited but plenty of space is available on an SD card However the function turned out to be incompatible with both of our test devices Safe Browsing Clean Master has integrated a safe browsing feature This protects the user against fraudulent and risky websites whilst surfing the net 35 www av comparatives org a Malicious website detected 1 Malicious Website http vekka ua 78 Required htm Close Website Ignore In our quick test this worked very well Updates We were not able to find any information regarding updates Clicking the Update button took us to the Google Play Store Help An FAQ with 42 items is provided Whilst this clarifies some issues we feel that a more conventional help service would be more helpful Deinstallation The product can be uninstalled using Android s built in App Manager It is not necessary to enter a password This is perfectly acceptable as the software does not inc
101. ly problematic for products that use text message commands to control their features Thieves are able to see text messages in plain text meaning that they can see the password We thus recommend sending a lock command first before using other features such as locating or wiping the device This is the only way the user can ensure that a thief does not have access to his or her texts Security software for Android usually requires a wide range of operating system permissions which we granted to ensure that the program would work properly We noticed a high degree of variation between products however We decided to publish a table in this year s report that displays all the permissions required by each product This can be seen in the appendix on page 87 1 http www dw de 2013 C3 BCber eine milliarde smartphones verkauft a 17391228 German https fb public app box com s 3iq5x6uwngtq7ki4q8wk AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Theft Protection Almost all the products in the test provide a theft protection feature The lock function is surely the most important This protects the phone from unauthorised use by password protecting it Remote deletion of personal data on the smartphone is also a standard feature of the tested programs The position of the phone can be determined by a location function This can be helpful in locating a lost phone although some manufacturers
102. mand has been sent the device will record sound for one minute The audio file can then be found in the web interface in 3gp format Record Video Text message command VIDEO lt password gt 70 This records video using the front camera and sound for one minute Again the result can be found as a 3gp file in the web interface In our test it was scarcely possible to recognise anything as the resolution was very low Ring Text message command RING lt password gt This command sounds a siren in the form of a rock song This could be useful when trying to locate a mislaid mobile phone The command does not lock the device SIM Change This function notifies the user by text message when the SIM card is changed The phone is also locked at the same time Updates Updates can be run manually but we were unable to find any more information about automatic updates Personal Security This feature sends an SOS message to the registered mobile number in an emergency The user has to press the power button 3 to 5 times to activate the emergency mode On activation it will send the device location along with an SOS message The feature will also post a message on social networking sites Facebook amp Twitter Help Very comprehensive and useful help files are provided There is also an FAQ page although this is not very well sorted and so a lot of searching is necessary to find the answer to a particular question
103. more we still recommend adding theft protection as the danger of unauthorized access to private information on stolen or misplaced mobile devices should not be underestimated AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Bitdefender Mobile Security Bitdefender Mobile Security is available as a 14 day test version After the test period the user has the option to purchase a licence in order to continue using the software Bitdefenders mobile product combines a cloud based malware scanner with privacy capabilities web protection and an anti theft feature The latter can be controlled by text messages or a web interface that lets you lock track and wipe your Android from any Internet connected device The latest version of the app also features an Android Wear extension allowing Android users to make better use of their Smartwatch by turning it into an anti theft tool and a perfect phone locator Bitdefender Mobile Security Last scan 1 minute ago w K te MALWARE SCANNER PRIVACY ADVISOR WEB SECURITY ANTI THEFT dni EVENT VIEWER APP LOCK Installation Bitdefender was downloaded free from the Google Play Store The first step is to accept the licence agreement The user can then opt out of sending anonymous statistics to Bitdefender The device then has to be given a name to identify it in the web interface Next a user account has to be associated with
104. mply uninstalling the theft protection An even more convenient method of uninstallation is offered by the uninstall wizard which takes care of deactivating the device administrator privilege AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Licence The basic functions of KIS can be used without charge Extended functionality is provided by the Premium version which costs 10 95 per year This includes real time virus protection web protection protection and protection message phishing privacy against text 56 www av comparatives org Summary This year Kaspersky Lab has once again provided a good security product for Android Sensible features such as text message phishing protection privacy protection and theft protection impressed us We would however strongly recommend that Kaspersky Lab sort out the malfunction of the text message filter with the current Android version AV comparatives Kingsoft Mobile Security Kingsoft Mobile Security is a free security product which has been kept as simple as possible in its design The main GUI is divided into two pages On the first page are the Super Energy Saver and App Behavior Manager With a swipe to the right the user can access the main menu This has a behaviour monitor a nuisance filter that is supposed to block SPAM texts and unsolicited sales calls a Payment Guard and a safe QR scanner When us
105. n Starting the program When the program is started the start screen displays the current storage usage and RAM usage Statistics for the number of bytes cleaned up in the current day are also shown As the program has only just been installed the display shows zero bytes Tapping on the Storage icon shows a detailed list of the storage usage there is a parallel function for the RAM icon 33 www av comparatives org Junk Files This function finds unnecessary files e g cache files in the local file system The program offers to delete these files and thus clean up the system Our device which had only been used for a few simple tests had collected 578 MB of junk files according to Clean Master Amongst the files to be deleted were some obsolete APK files files in phone Storage that were no longer needed and cache files When the cleaning process has been carried out the results are displayed 575 MB in our case suggestions for additional apps are displayed Recommended for you 9 Free memory on Get it running faster than ever After using the device briefly without starting any other apps a further 177 MB of storage space was freed The manufacturers tell us that this is because most apps have background services which periodically generate unnecessary files junk files Deleting junk files can be set to run automatically The user can choose an interval between one and fifteen days It is also
106. n c O ek CT a S EE a E Qt 2 z G S lojo lS a vn u e a 5 D ee os S n O Sr a ctr O c Ln E i ea EE el location provider commands E E EA L ES S f CT D a je 3 D n a Si a LO Ln GU a EL n G cor eo ot Ln Webroot N ESET Mobile Security F Secure Mobile Security x IKARUS mobile security i Kingsoft Mobile Security McAfee Mobile Security Quick Heal Total Security Sophos Mobile Security E SecureAnywhere Mobile Security Master Security for Android Security Security Manager Security c let omplete 5 2 0 2 23 423 5 6 0 1600 1 6 1 1632 11 5 4 704 3 3 1 1503 4 2 0 527 2 0 022 3 5 1324 a O 5 0 0 1247 3 6 0 6610 Supported Android versions 2 2 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 3 3 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 3 and higher 2 3 3 and higher 2 1 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 3 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 3 and higher 2 2 and higher 2 3 and higher 2 3 3 and higher 2 1 and higher 2 3 and higher 2 2 and higher English German Spanish English Japanese French Italian Korean Chinese Dutch German English German French 7 R 9 R Chinese Dutch Portuguese French Italian Korean Italian Japanese Chinese l g Chinese Turkish Portuguese Spanish Vietnamese Turkish Russian Bitdefender Mobile CheetahMobile Clean CheetahMobile CM G Data Internet Security Kaspersky Internet Qihoo 360 Mobile Tencent Mobile Securit
107. nality Premium functions such as App Locking Ad Detector some anti theft features and the backup function can be obtained by purchasing a Premium Plan which is available for 1 99 a month or 14 99 a year Summary avast Mobile Security has a wide range of features with innovative functionality We particularly liked the wide range of configuration options and remote commands which provide the user with a comprehensive remote control function The Backup App Locker and Privacy Scan features which were promised last year have now been implemented and complete the program s functionality AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Avira Antivirus Security Avira s Antivirus Security is a well designed security product containing important security features such as a malware scanner theft protection and blacklist The product is completed by innovative features such as Identity Safeguard AV lik Protected Antivirus L Anti Theft Identity Safeguard Installation Avira Antivirus Security was downloaded without charge from the Google Play Store The first step is to create a new Avira account or log in with an existing one Creating an account requires an email address and a password of at least 5 characters Avira also recommends storing a photo along with first and last names in order to make it easier to find the device if lost Once the user is logged
108. ninstall the software this is an obvious security risk as it means that a thief could simply uninstall the product including the theft protection component Summary AhnLab V3 Mobile provides the most important security functions for Android 16 www av comparatives org smartphones As well as the classic protection features such as theft protection there are also innovative functions such as file encryption and network management However the product appears to have problems with the latest Android version we found malfunctions with the anti spam lock screen and file encryption components AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 avast Mobile Security avast Mobile Security is a free program It is a comprehensive security product for mobile phones and tablets The most important functions are antivirus browser protection and theft protection oO avast Og Virus Scanner L Anti Theft Backup Install Application Locking Privacy Advisor Application Management SMS and Call Filter Premium Installation We downloaded avast Mobile Security from the Google Play Store The user is presented with an introductory tutorial that explains the most important functions After this avast recommends scanning all installed applications The user can skip this step if desired however If the scan is carried out an update of the malware signatures is carried out Sta
109. nt allows installed apps to be password protected using a password of at least four characters Once this has been set a warning appears that the App Protection can be bypassed by using the Task Manager However Sophos provides help in the form of an additional app Sophos Security and Antivirus Guard which ensures that the protection software cannot be stopped There is a configurable Grace Period which defines how long after unlocking the app should be accessible before it is automatically locked again Sophos has set a default time of five minutes 74 Unknown App Sources USB Debugging Screen Lock Device Encryption Wi Fi Security nrc Bluetooth As a form of self protection Sophos has password protected itself and the Android settings This cannot be deactivated From a list of all installed apps it is possible to choose individual apps to be protected with the same password This worked very reliably in our test and could not be bypassed Web Filtering This component protects the user against malicious websites whilst surfing the Internet Additionally undesirable content e g alcohol drugs weapons can be filtered The component could be used as parental control for a child s smartphone The configuration page with default settings is shown below FILTER MALICIOUS WEBSITES Malicious content Containing potential malicious code Warn FILTER CATEGORIZED WEBSITES Adult Allow Features
110. o boxes Although there are manuals for other Ikarus products on their website we could not find one for the mobile suite There is an FAQ with about 20 questions although we found these rather superficial Deinstallation Ikarus mobile security provides an uninstall wizard to guide the user through uninstalling 52 www av comparatives org the product The password has to be entered After this the user encounters a simple dialog box and then the product is removed without further ado It is possible to uninstall the product using the Android App Manager in which case the password is not required Naturally we regard this as a security problem as a thief could easily deactivate the theft protection this way Licence Ikarus allow the user to test mobile security for 30 days free of charge When the test period has expired the user can choose between a lifetime licence from the Google Play Store for 19 95 or a year s licence for 9 from the Ikarus website Summary Ikarus mobile security includes all the important security functions The user interface is very clean and should be easy to use even for non experts The features generally all worked very well AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Kaspersky Internet Security This year s version of Kaspersky Internet Security has been given a new look A wide range of functions is available to the user As well as a viru
111. o send app feedback is marked as accepted by default The user can try the payment protection or go to the main menu by tapping on the option in the upper right hand corner 26 www av comparatives org M On home screen all functions can be accessed with a single tap Health check up In the center of the window a circular display shows the current health of the mobile device The check up function frees memory ends processes and removes trash files The feature recommends activating the safe payment function and upgrading already installed apps and points out that a full scan has not been carried out The full scan reports a promotional app published by the Aochan supermarket in China as malicious During the check up the installation of the Baidu App store is recommended for safe app downloads Mobile Speedup After the check up the mobile phone speedup still found further possibilities to speed up our test device According to the app we freed 500 MB of memory with the smart speedup function Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 The function offers deep speed up which first has to monitor the apps on the test device for a longer period Apps cannot be frozen or the CPU speed changed without first rooting the device FAR 36 AFHR ATAR BRRR Trash removal After the check up and the mobile speed up the trash removal function still f
112. ock function the device s co ordinates and a link to Google Maps will be AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 sent to the sender s phone by return The device is also locked The Locate command is thus de facto identical to the Lock command Alarm Text message command alarm lt password gt lt count gt This command works in much the same way as the Lock command but an alarm is sounded additionally The Count parameter defines how many times the alarm signal should be sounded Without a number for this parameter the alarm will sound continuously It can be switched off by using 0 for the count Wipe Text message command wipe lt password gt The Wipe command deletes all personal data on the smartphone First the external SD card is wiped after this the device is reset to factory defaults In our test all the data was deleted We were not able to recover data from the external SD card with our normal freeware tool The whole process was completed in just a few moments SIM Change Lock This function sends a text message to the registered trusted phone number in the event that the SIM card is exchanged This could be useful in the event that the SIM card is exchanged by a thief However in our test this did not work Despite going through the scenario a number of times we did not receive a text informing us of the swap F Secure inform us that the stolen device s scr
113. ould not incur roaming charges There is also the opportunity to join F Secure s Real Time Protection Network which is actually activated by default This analyses files and is intended to protect against the most recent threats F Secure state that this involves sending them a file that has been stripped of personal data in order to continuously improve the service Parental Control This component serves to keep inappropriate content away from children Apps unsuitable for children are also blocked The parent has the choice of three profiles Child Teen and AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Adult Each has its own pre configured filter and can be individually customised Categories such as weapons gambling or illegal downloads can be specified A password has to be entered to make changes to the parental control configuration meaning that a child cannot simply deactivate the protection Allowed web content Adult content C Chat C Webmail CI The apps that a child can use can also be specified By default all installed apps are allowed Parents can specify individual apps that should be password protected Safe Browsing F Secure protects the user against malware and phishing sites while browsing the Internet To this end F Secure s own safe browser is provided In last year s test we noted that only the F Secure browser was protected F Secure has improved the produ
114. ound 45 MB of trash on the test device The deep removal function even found 92 5 MB of trash Mobile fee protection amp data volume monitor The current Baidu app offers a whole set of functions to protect the user from high mobile phone fees On the tab Protection against waste of mobile fees the user can see the mobile phone balance and the data volume that has already been used The user can scan a device for apps that cause high phone fees see which apps have caused unusual data traffic cancel mobile value added services and check the inbox for fraudulent text messages On the test device with a China Unicom prepaid SIM card the check for mobile value added services did not 27 www av comparatives org work properly An in app text explained that Unicom users had to contact the mobile operator to check manually for value added services they have ordered PAM FARR Tea BY P gt GRRE SWAB SS RERATER Data traffic monitor This component monitors the mobile data traffic of the user The app can synchronize the data periodically with the billing system of the mobile network operator The user can buy additional volume within the app The app reminds the user that surfing the Internet while travelling abroad is not covered by the monthly data package Disturbance blocker Spam texts and nuisance phone calls are still serious problems for Chinese users In our test the app correctly blocked
115. owever we feel that the Wipe feature needs to be improved AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 ESET Mobile Security ESET s Mobile Security is a security app that provides antivirus and anti theft components The Premium version also includes text message and call filtering phishing protection system audit extended theft protection and a SIM guard This year s version has been enhanced with a web interface G Mobile Security Maximum protection Antivirus Anti Theft SMS amp Call Filter Anti Phishing m T N Security Audit oe Settings Installation ESET Mobile Security was installed from the Google Play Store To start off with the licence agreement has to be accepted In the next stage the user can agree to send anonymous app usage data to ESET This option is deactivated as standard After this comes the option of joining ESET s Live Grid which is activated by default This is a type of early warning system that uses data collected from all participating users The next step is to decide whether ESET Mobile Security should detect PUAs potentially unwanted applications Finally the licence is checked and a message is displayed to inform us that ESET is starting its first scan 39 www av comparatives org Starting the program After the initial configuration the user is taken to a clearly laid out start screen This provides access to th
116. paratives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Based on the survey data the following daily usage scenario was simulated e 30 minutes telephony e 82 minutes looking at photos e 45 minutes surfing the Internet with the Android browser using web pages on a local web server to rule out any influences through connection speed e 17 minutes watching YouTube videos with the YouTube app e 13 minutes watching videos saved on the phone itself e 2 minutes sending and receiving mails with the Google Mail Client e 1 minute opening locally saved documents ab gt lm wet ED Kaspersky cb O wie ED Kings m Baidu Bitdefender Cheetah Mobile C M up to 3 3 to 8 8 to 15 15 to 25 more than 25 ESET F Secure G Data Overall the security suites performed well in this test However one of the products did cause higher battery usage namely Baidu We were not able to find a particular operation for which the product used more energy but overall its battery usage was higher Cheetah Mobile CMS ND Sophos ND a AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Malware protection results Methods of attacking mobile phones are getting more and more sophisticated Fraudulent applications attempt to steal smartphone users data or money To reduce the risk of this happening follow the advice given here Only download apps from Google
117. phone number can be additionally displayed The lock screen allows this number and this number only except emergency calls Please return my Phone L CALL OWNER Locked by Android Device Manager EMERGENCY CALL In our test the lock functioned exactly as it should We were not able to bypass it and an emergency call was possible at all times Wipe This function deletes personal data from the users smartphone Once the command has been received the device is returned to factory settings Google points out that on some devices the SD card will not be wiped under some circumstances We were able to confirm this in our tests Whilst on our Nexus 5 all data was deleted including from the SD card the command did not wipe the SD card on our alternative test device with the older Android version Summary Google s Android Device Manager does not offer a great range of functionality but all the available components are very effective For users who principally want the theft protection features of a mobile security product the Android Device Manager could be a good choice AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 AhnLab V3 Mobile AhnLab s V3 Mobile is a security product for Android that contains the most important security features such as a malware scanner theft protection and anti spam Ahnta bws Mobile 72 0 Scan Real time Scan A Anti Theft Protection Anti Spam
118. possible to filter by file type Thus JPG files for example could be excluded from the cleaning process Memory Boost The memory boost function cleans unnecessary processes related to running applications AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 C4 lt Memory Boost Q Q MB A Freeable 653 89MB 1 81GB Running apps G Media Storage 5 0MB v In our test apps such as the clock and Media Storage were shown Additionally some apps such as Hangouts are shown but with the recommendation to keep them running In our test 9 MB of data were removed from the RAM Antivirus The antivirus component of the product examines the device for potential security problems CheetahMobile do not consider simply scanning the file system to be sufficient In our test it was pointed out that the browser history Chrome could be deleted Additionally real time protection is provided At the top of the screen a button marked Privacy is shown This button can be uses to delete any data relating to the way the device is used An example would be the search history in the Google Play Store A simple tap on Clean removes such entries from the device As well as the automatic cleaning there is a manual cleaning function Clean Master leads the user to relevant apps from which the cache and other data can be deleted 34 www av comparatives org lt Antivirus Priv
119. ptically redesigned since last year and now includes an app blocker The features are well thought out and generally worked very well CheetahMobile aims to digitally clean the mobile phone with Clean Master As well as a virus scanner there are other functions such as RAM storage cleaning CheetahMobile CM Security is a solidly implemented security product for Android smartphones which provides important functions such as antivirus and theft protection ESET Mobile Security is a well thought out and attractively designed product for Android smartphones The functions are solidly implemented and performed well This year s version has been extended to include a web interface for the theft protection AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org F Secure Mobile Security is a security package that includes important features such as theft protection and malware scanner Parental controls and safe surfing are also provided G Data Internet Security provides sophisticated protection for children in addition to the standard security features This includes Children s Corner and a special browser for children IKARUS mobile security includes all the important security features The user interface is very clearly laid out and should be simple to use for everyone The components included generally worked well Kaspersky Internet Security has been optically reworked since last year It has
120. r characters has to be set The phone number of a trusted person is requested which will be used to allow a password reset or receive messages in the event that e g the SIM card is changed G Data Internet Security is then made a device administrator This completes the setup process 46 www av comparatives org Starting the program When first started G Data runs an update The user is notified that an initial scan should be run There is a choice of scanning just installed apps or the entire system The Security Center i e the program s home screen then indicates that all is well Virus Scan The Virus Scan component enables the user to check the smartphone for malicious software As with the initial scan there is a choice of scanning just installed apps or the complete system The results are shown in the Security Center A scheduled scan can be configured in the settings with a frequency of 1 3 7 14 or 30 days It can be specified that a scan should only be run if there is sufficient battery life to do so It is also possible to configure the scan so that it will only run when the device is connected to its charger Lost Stolen This feature can help the user in the event that the smartphone is lost or stolen The functionality is controlled by text messages a web interface is not included The user can decide which actions can be started remotely All are activated by default Locate Telephone Text mess
121. r name or phone number Add AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 The numbers to block can be entered directly or imported from the contacts list It is also possible to add numbers from the text message log Recent Messages tab We liked the fact that a message is automatically sent to the sender when a message is blocked The text of this can be edited by the user In our test the feature did not work on our primary test device with Android 4 4 We assumed this was due to incompatibility with the newer OS and this turned out to be true as the Message Blacklist feature worked perfectly on our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 Info The Info area shows product version information Contact details for the manufacturer in the form of email addresses and telephone numbers can also be found here It is additionally possible to send the system log to the product support team Restart Setup This action requires the password to be entered This resets the configuration of the product and takes the user to the same setup process shown after installation Updates As with scans updates can be carried out automatically The configuration options are also the same It is also possible to specify that updates should only be carried out when the device is connected via WiFi It is also possible to run manual updates Help Ikarus provides the user assistance in the form of concise inf
122. r offers a number of privacy protection features as follows Privacy Space A gesture password has to be defined to configure this function This password is used to hide text messages from specified phone numbers plus photos videos and other files If the user adds e g photos to the hidden items they then appear in their own album within the Privacy Guard tool but can no longer be seen in the general photo gallery App permissions Installed apps are listed according to privacy related permissions This function is relevant to finding privacy risks and apps that may steal personal information AV Scan According to the in program description the AV scan function checks for system leaks malicious apps and payment danger A GR ila TE Se th A B O M ee KC L In the tab settings the app can be configured to conduct a Smart Scan Quick Scan and Full Scan The user can install an additional Trojan remover tool which scans the device for specific malware Anti Theft This component is not activated by default Activation requires the user to configure a password and a trusted mobile phone number AV comparatives which will be used to receive an alert in the event that the SIM card has been changed The theft protection functions are controlled by text messages Like many mobile security products Tencent uses English language SMS commands Delete SMS Command QQDeleteALL password
123. r that the text blocking feature is not compatible with the current Android version However on our alternative test device which runs Android 4 1 2 the feature worked as expected Firewall The firewall is inactive and cannot be used unless the device has been rooted This is in accordance with restrictions by the OS on non rooted devices As the scenario for our test assumes an average user whose device has not been rooted we were not able to test this feature Network Meter This component lists the data volume used by installed apps This can be broken down into WiFi 3G Roaming and Total Tapping an app allows its data usage to be displayed by date today month year Updates Updates are carried out automatically The network s to be used for updates can be AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 selected Wifi 3G Roaming Updates can also be run manually Help There is no help function within the app This could be problematic due to the scope of functionality and configuration options in the app A user guide 34 pages and FAQ can be found on the avast website Deinstallation The uninstallation of avast can be carried out without entering a password However the theft protection functionality remains active as it is contained within a separate app 7 1 www av comparatives org Licence avast Mobile Security is available as a free app with reduced functio
124. rams Safe Surfing and Parental Control This component brings together protection against Internet threats and appropriate web filtering for children AV comparatives Provides balanced protection without blocking minor risks High Normal Low The Safe Surfing sub component provides three levels of web protection High Medium and Low The High setting will block sites with the slightest risk whilst Low is more permissive and ignores minor threats Setting up the Parental Control feature requires the Trend Micro account password to be entered The web protection for children can then be configured The user can adjust this for the age of the children concerned It is also possible to add individual websites to a blacklist or whitelist Provides filtering for children between 10 and 13 More details Child Pre teen Teen The Uninstall Protection prevents the child adolescent from removing the program This feature is useful not only for parental control but also for theft protection We would therefore find it more sensible to make it into a global function In contrast to last year s version the Uninstall Protection worked very well in our test The password was required to uninstall the program and we were not able to bypass it There is a log of blocked websites including both dangerous sites and sites not appropriate for children Call Blocking Trend Micro enables unwanted calls to be blocked Eit
125. rator in order to obtain the necessary privileges for delete lock commands Bitdefender points out that the device administrator status has to be deactivated before uninstalling the product To complete 30 www av comparatives org the process a PIN of between four and eight numerical characters has to be entered Additionally details of a trusted person have to be entered He or she will be contacted in the event that the SIM card is swapped and the phone number will be the only one from which the wipe command can be sent Locate Text message command BD lt PIN gt LOCATE The Locate function finds the position of a lost or stolen device The web interface displays the location of the phone in Google Maps Continuously locating the phone is not possible If text messages are used to control the software the sender will receive a text in return that contains a link to the phone s current location in Google Maps Scream Text message command BD lt PIN gt SCREAM The Scream function sounds a shrill siren The device is not locked The function thus serves to help the user find the phone when mislaid rather than scaring off a thief Lock Text message command BD lt PIN gt LOCK This command locks the device and protects against unauthorized access Bitdefender uses the lock screen that is built into Android This does not allow Bitdefender s own logo or messages to be shown but has no security related issues
126. reen is clearly laid out making it easy to find one s way around Scan The scanner searches the phone for malicious software The user can specify in the settings whether the cloud should be used in scans There are options to disable cloud support when roaming or if even if the device is not connected to WiFi Additionally it is possible to choose whether scans should check for potentially unwanted applications Scheduled scans can also be set at intervals ranging from six hours to three days Sophos also provides 72 real time protection which checks every newly installed app as well as changes to files Loss amp Theft In the event that the smartphone is lost or stolen this component can play an alarm lock the device locate it or delete the data on it Commands are sent by text message a web interface is not available The commands have to be sent from trusted phone numbers which are defined when the feature is activated The user also has to create a password to be used when sending the commands Commands sent from unregistered numbers are ignored even if the correct password is used We liked the clearly designed overview of the theft protection components which informs the user which functions are active and which still need to be configured Lock Text message command Lock lt password gt This command locks the mobile phone using the Android lock screen Additionally an icon with a message about the
127. rental Controls This enables parents to make the smartphone more child friendly When the component is set up G Data recommends replacing the standard Android app launcher page with G Data s own app launcher This covers the Android page and only shows those apps that the parent has specifically allowed the child to use The password has to be entered to leave this mode This worked fairly well in our test It was possible to briefly view the list of recently used apps but not possible to use any of them it is thus only a cosmetic flaw The list 48 www av comparatives org was obscured by the Kid s Corner after a few seconds anyway Kid s browser The Kid s browser is a separate app which is intended to provide a safe surfing experience for children It is only possible to view selected websites exact list unknown These are all clearly suitable for children The browsers home page is http fragfinn de this is a search engine that only displays child friendly results SMS and Call Filter This element of the application allows unwanted calls and text messages to be blocked Rules can be created that block incoming calls and texts and outgoing calls Outgoing filter Prohibit unwanted calls Select how the filter should work Whitelist OFF Allow all numbers on the whitelist Blacklist Block all numbers on the blacklist Telephone book OFF Allow all numbers in the telephone book E
128. revent this there are three possibilities strictly controlled use of the phone carrying a portable charging device or configuring the device to use as little power as possible Many users still believe that security software makes high demands on the battery of an Android smartphone Our battery usage test found that in everyday use of the phone the influence of security products on battery life is negligible Running backups updates and malware scans does lead to significantly higher battery usage however Some products get around this by allowing the user to configure the software so that these functions are only carried out when the smartphone is being charged AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Overview The perfect mobile security product does not yet exist As with Windows products we recommend drawing up a short list after reading about the advantages and disadvantages of each product in our review A free trial version of each candidate product can then be installed and tested for a few days this should make the decision easier Especially with Android security products new versions with improvements and new functions are constantly being released e APPROVED MOBILE PRODUCT By participating in this test the manufacturers have shown their commitment to providing customers with quality security software As this report shows we have found some degree of malfun
129. rloading the user with details Bitdefender provides a score between 1 and 100 representing the overall security situation AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 The lower the score the greater the number of apps with dubious privileges that have been detected Additionally all installed apps are displayed in a list Tapping an app s entry in the list displays all its privileges 9 Kamera This app is a moderate privacy risk Dislike Uninstall f Clues Permission to read your contacts list Expected behaviour Clues that are necessary for the app s proper functioning Permission to connect to the Internet Permission to access your location This has been well implemented in our opinion App privileges are divided into Expected behaviour and Clues This allows even inexperienced users to evaluate the information and decide for themselves whether there is any evidence of spying by the app In this view the app can be uninstalled directly Web Security Web Security protects the user against common threats whilst surfing the Internet Bitdefender states that the product protects against phishing other types of fraud and malware Anti Theft Bitdefender s theft protection features can be controlled by an elegant web interface http my bitdefender com The feature is not activated by default but can be enabled quickly The device has to be made a device administ
130. rting the program When the program is first started the home screen is displayed which indicates the extensive scope of the program At the bottom edge of the screen a Go Premium paid for version with extra features button is shown Navigating the menus is largely an intuitive process 17 www av comparatives org Virus Scanner The Virus Scanner scans all installed applications for malware The user can also choose to scan all files Pressing and holding this checkbox displays a dialog which can be used to select a particular folder for scanning At the bottom of the screen buttons are shown for configuring an automatic scan Time of day as well as day of the week can be specified Shield Control The various real time protection features are termed Shield by avast The available shields can be found by swiping to the right The following shields are available App Shield The App Shield scans apps during installation and or execution depending on how it is configured Web Shield This component protects the user against phishing sites and sites containing malware The standard browser Google Chrome Amazon Silk and Boat Browser are all supported In our quick test the feature worked very well o Quast This website has been reported as a phishing site Close Continue at your own risk avast also offers a spelling checker for URLs this checks and corrects typos when website addresses are en
131. s USSD Code protection Each of the sub components can be switched on or off independently By AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 default the first two are active the USSD blocker is not URL Filter This protects the user against dangerous websites when surfing the Internet Ikarus does not state which browsers are supported It is claimed that phishing pages and sites distributing malware will be blocked However in our functionality test with phishing URLs no detection was produced Theft Protection Ikarus lists all the available theft protection features and allows each component to be activated or deactivated separately All the theft protection functions are controlled by text message a web interface is not provided Reset to factory settings and H delete data X Enable remote wiping Block unauthorized access to the H device Enable remote locking Remote locating of the device Enable remote locating es lt e lt Trigger alarm Trigger alarm signal on device X Deactivating each individual component requires the password to be entered Whilst we welcome this in principle we feel it would be more practical to demand the password once to access the entire dialog rather than having to enter it for each checkbox This can however be changed in the dialog itself Wipe Text message command wipe lt password gt lt Password gt This comman
132. s for the use of a protected app The user can select apps to be locked from a list In our test the feature worked as intended we were not able to use a locked app without entering the PIN Set Profile McAfee Mobile Security provides four different profiles to choose from No Limitations Office Child Guest For each of these profiles the user can decide which apps will be available for use In order to block other apps McAfee has created its own app launcher which only shows allowed apps An attempt to go back to the original Android start screen in order to gain access to all installed apps requires the PIN to be entered C Kids Change Profile OX This worked well in our test 61 Block Calls In order to block unwanted calls McAfee has implemented the Block Calls function This uses both blacklists and whitelists In the settings the user can configure the function with regard to incoming calls outgoing calls and roaming For each of these types it is possible to specify that all calls be allowed only whitelisted numbers be allowed blacklisted calls be blocked or all numbers be blocked Additionally calls from hidden numbers can be blocked if desired Blocking text messages is not available for Android 4 4 KitKat and higher However in our test we found that when a text message was received from a blacklisted number a pop up message appeared stating that a message from the specified number ha
133. s scanner the product includes a text message and call filter browser protection theft protection and more Kaspersky Internet Security Installation Kaspersky Internet Security KIS was installed from the Google Play Store In the first step the user s country of residence has to be specified The licence agreement then has to be accepted Starting the program When installation is complete the user is taken to the program s home page There is a very obvious recommendation to carry out a security scan of the device When this has been done the home page notes that all is well and the device is protected Swiping to the right displays an overview of protection status data with details of the last scan update status and licence details By swiping up from the bottom the user can display an overview of the available functions 53 www av comparatives org Scan This allows the user to scan the device with KIS to look for malicious software Three possible variants are offered Quick Scan searches all installed files while Full Scan covers the entire device Folder Scan allows a specific directory to be scanned Browser Kaspersky provides browser protection to protect the user while surfing the Internet Kaspersky Lab state that this protects against both phishing and malware Google Chrome is recommended as the standard browser We could not find any information regarding any other supported browsers Ano
134. safe surfing and well implemented parental controls in addition to the usual functions of theft protection and malware scanner Tencent Mobile Manager is a security product for Android with extensive functionality There is a wide range of optional add ons available which can extend the product even further Due to the score in the malware protection test which according to Tencent was due to a bug in the product at the time of testing we are unfortunately not able to approve the product Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile Complete scores highly with its reliable theft protection and text call filter The premium version additionally includes SIM lock app inspectors and other functions AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Products tested The products that participated in this year s test are listed below The manufacturers either provided us with the latest version of their product or confirmed that it was available from the Google Play Store at the time of the test July 2014 After the test manufacturers had the opportunity to fix any flaws we found Any problems that have already been solved are noted in the report e AhnLab V3 Mobile 2 1 2 13 e Kaspersky Internet Security 11 4 4 232 e avast Mobile Security 3 0 7650 e Kingsoft Mobile Security 3 3 1 e Avira Antivirus Security 3 5 2983 e McAfee Mobile Security 4 1 0 543 e Baidu Mobile Manager 5 2 0 e Quick Heal Total Securit
135. t component automatically switches on Stealth Mode which completely hides the theft protection function If the PIN is dialed from the phone the component becomes visible again A glaring yellow symbol signifies that there are problems with the configuration For example it will indicate that avast has to be made a device administrator The Anti Theft component can be controlled using the web interface http my avast com or various text message commands As well as the classic 18 www av comparatives org functions such as lock locate and wipe avast also offers redirection of calls texts and call logs etc An overview of all commands can be seen here http www avast com free mobile security tab3 click on Control via SMS Lock Text message command lt Pin gt LOCK When the command has been sent the device is locked and a lock screen displayed Honest finders are asked to report the find to avast The IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity number which is shown on the lock screen has to be sent to android avast com The text of the message can be edited Additionally a loud siren is sounded and the message This phone has been lost or stolen played This is only available in English Entering the correct PIN will unlock the phone Overall the lock feature worked well in our test We were not able to get around the block and so could not access any personal data on the phone We do
136. t from what we would normally understand by anti adware This too requires the use of Super Mode Consequently it was not available on our Nexus 5 test device However on the alternative device with Android 4 1 2 the component worked very well Apps which had previously shown advertising banners became ad free Anti Disturb This feature allows alerts in the Notification Bar to be suppressed It is possible to remove the notification privilege from overly chatty apps Leave Me Alone mode allows only very important notifications to be displayed It would be nice if this feature could also block alerts at particular times so that the user would not be disturbed by them e g during working hours Anti Disturb requires the Super Mode again meaning that it would not work on our Nexus 5 It worked perfectly on the alternative device with the older Android system however Block Self Start Apps The purpose of this function is to block the automatic execution of apps at system 65 Startup This is intended to prevent slow startup and running of the phone User Software System Software All i A Ce CX aA Allowed Auto Startup Software O Back up and restore Aut tostartup Autorun 1 Camera Autostartup Autorun v Clock Autostartup Autorun The feature s settings display a list of all the apps that start up automatically with the operating system A simple sliding switch for each app allows the automatic s
137. t ways of doing this The conventional method does not reset the device to factory settings In our test personal data such as contacts bookmarks calendar entries and files was deleted but not text messages or the Google account Emails could thus be received and read just as before On our alternative device with Android 4 1 2 the text messages were also deleted A thorough delete overwrites the SD card with junk files which takes considerably longer but prevents the personal data being recovered However in our test this did not work Using common freeware programs we were able to recover a majority of the files If the program is made a device administrator the wipe process can reset the phone to factory settings This deletes text messages and the Google account too but also removes the theft protection software unless the device has been rooted please see above 19 www av comparatives org SIM Change Lock avast includes a function that locks the device if the SIM card is changed by a thief The user can configure the action to be taken in such an event it is possible to lock the device and play an alarm siren Backup This function has to be installed separately and enables personal data to be backed up Google Drive is used as the backup location After activation the user can decide which data should be backed up Checkboxes are used to select from contacts call logs text messages photos audio and
138. ta does not inform the user of the incompatibility Hiding the call logs worked perfectly on our main device however Updates Updates are carried out automatically The interval can be set to 1 3 7 14 or 30 days It is also possible to specify that updates should only be downloaded when the device has a WLAN connection to the Internet Help Most components provide a short description in the menu which is usually adequate We were not able to find a dedicated help function in the form of continuous text or FAQs however Deinstallation G Data Internet Security can be uninstalled using the Android App Manager A password is not required This could be a problem as it allows a thief to simply uninstall the theft protection It is possible to counteract this by proactively configuring the App Protection feature for the Android settings and the security product itself Whilst G Data 49 www av comparatives org recommends this in the App Protection settings it is not set up by default Licence G Data Internet Security is available for 18 99 a year from the Google Play Store A Light version is available free of charge This provides protection against dangerous applications and control of app privileges It can also be upgraded to the full version Summary G Data Internet Security s Parental Control feature particularly impressed us as it appears very well thought out A solid theft protection component is
139. tart to be deactivated This also works for system applications although Qihoo warns the user to be careful with these Cleanup The purpose of this feature is to free up RAM and space on the internal storage device When we tested this we were able to clean up 350 MB of RAM along with 4 72 MB of unnecessary cache files and 41 0 MB of superfluous APK files Cleanup 6 Trash can be cleaned Memory can be cleaned 350 45 85 Memory 350MB C Chrome 124MB Updates Updates are carried out automatically It is also possible to carry out a manual update Help We were unable to find any form of help for the program AV comparatives Deinstallation The app can be removed using Android s built in App Manager No password is required but this situation is perfectly acceptable given that there is no theft protection feature or similar Licence Qihoo 360 Antivirus is available free of charge with full functionality 66 Summary Qihoo provides important functions such as malware protection Innovative features such as the Anti Adware component worked extremely well There is one major problem however in that most of the functions require Super Mode On our Nexus 5 with Android 4 4 2 this mode was not available meaning that only the malware scanner and clean up function could be used Qihoo has informed us that the latest version of the product now includes theft protection AV comparatives Q
140. tected Application is configured for optimal security Scan for Threats Now A Subscription Active Security Identity amp Privacy Installation We installed Webroot SecureAnywhere from the Google Play Store Once the licence agreement has been accepted the user has to create a Webroot Account or log in with an existing one The password for the account has to have at least 6 characters The product is then registered as a device administrator Starting the program When the program is first started an alert in yellow points out that the Android lock screen has not been activated and the installation of apps from unknown sources is allowed When both of these problems have been fixed the status display turns green and makes clear that the product is now protected An automatic malware scan is also carried out Anti Virus Webroot s Anti Virus component is intended to protect the user against malicious software Various real time protection features can be activated in the Shields settings These are real time protection during installation of apps file system guard app execution protection and dialer protection Install Shield The Install Shield will scan any new app as it is installed File System Shield The File System Shield will scan newly downloaded or modified files Execution Shield The Execution Shield will scan any app you attempt to run Dialer Shield The Dialer Shield will block mali
141. ted by default It is controlled exclusively by text message A web interface is not provided Before F Secure s Anti Theft can be configured the Android screen lock has to be activated in order to prevent a thief deactivating the protection A security code has to be entered this has to have at least 5 characters and must reach a certain level of complexity We tried qqqqq but this was not accepted After this an email address has to be entered for the receipt of instructions along with a trusted phone number which will be informed in the event of a SIM card change The available text message commands can be seen in the Help The password must be entered in order to change settings Anti Theft is enabled If you lose your device you can send an SMS to use the following remote commands Q Locate the device G Lock the device sd Sound alarm on the device a Sane i ili Wipe data from the device Lock Text message command lock lt password gt This command locks the Android s integrated lock screen This is very screen using robust and prevents anyone else from accessing the device When the command has been given the sender will receive a text message in reply containing the co ordinates of the device s current location and a link to this on Google Maps Locate Text message command locate lt password gt This function helps the user to find a lost or stolen smartphone As with the l
142. tered to avoid typo squatting In our test however we were not able to produce a situation in which avast made a correction AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Message Shield This scans all incoming messages Tor phishing malware URLs This feature worked perfectly in our test Messages with an unknown sender can also be blocked File Shield This scans for malicious behaviour during read or write processes This also worked flawlessly in our test The component is activated by default Anti Theft The Anti Theft component is a stand alone app and has to be installed separately This has the advantage that the app can be hidden If the user has rooted the device the theft protection can be installed in hard reset proof mode If this is software is installed in this way it will be available even after the device has been restored to factory settings A straightforward but fairly comprehensive setup procedure is required The name and phone number of a trusted person along with a PIN of between 4 and 6 characters have to be entered The user then has to log in with an email address or Facebook account if the web interface is to be used The telephone number of the device being protected also has to be entered avast offers a special binary format for Android 4 4 devices this is necessary as outgoing text messages could be read by a thief Activating the Anti Thef
143. that his or her email address has been affected by a major data leak Adobe for example has been affected by data breaches that have allowed a large number of user credentials to come into the public sphere Avira checks AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 whether the user s email address or an email address in the Contacts list has been involved in such a data breach against a database of more than 160 million breached email addresses Blacklist The blacklist allows specific phone numbers to be barred from calling the user or sending text messages Numbers to be blacklisted can be imported from Contacts call lists and text message logs they can also be entered manually For each individual entry in the blacklist it can be specified whether just calls just text messages or both should be blocked Add from contacts Add from call log Add from SMS log Create new Before the feature is first used a warning is shown that the software may encounter some problems with specific models of LG mobile phones meaning that the call blocking feature will not work Text message blocking is not affected In our test exactly the opposite occurred Calls were blocked as expected but text messages were allowed through despite the sender s number being blocked This state of affairs is actually described in Avira s description of the software in the Google Play Store which notes that t
144. ther component of the web protection guards against phishing links sent via text message Attention SMS with phishing link is received from number 4369 with text http us bettle net bnxp pw login en This worked well in our test An alert was shown stating that access to the phishing page had been blocked Call amp Text Filter When this function is first used KIS displays an alert stating that due to technical limitations in combination with Android 4 4 there may be problems with sending and receiving text messages The user has to accept this warning before proceeding AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 Due to technical limitations of Android 4 4 the Call amp Text Filter functionality of sending and receiving messages may work not as intended _ lagree A very simple dialog box is then shown Blacklists and whitelists can be used to specify numbers to be blocked and allowed respectively Kaspersky offers different modes of blocking Blocked Contacts blocks all numbers on the blacklist Allowed Contacts allows texts and calls only from those numbers on the whitelist all others are rejected In Standard Mode all numbers on the blacklist are rejected and all numbers on the whitelist accepted For numbers that are not on either list a dialog box is displayed asking the user how to proceed with the caller For the blacklist the user can specify whether to
145. tics in the battery drain test The data was used to define average daily use of a smartphone The test then determined the effect of the security software on battery use for the average user Environmental conditions To measure the battery drain as accurately as possible we used an ISO calibrated measuring device in co operation with Agilent and x test The highly accurate battery drain meter allows very precise measurements to be taken An automated process emulating the typical usage as established in the Survey is run multiple times Outside influences In order to exclude any influence from environmental conditions or technical variations we took great pains to ensure that the testing conditions for each product were identical in accordance with ECMA 383 3G connections and WiFi connections can vary according to e g weather conditions In order to prevent such variations influencing our test we set up our own WiFi base station and UMTS base station in our testing lab This ensured that the energy expended in supporting the 3G WLAN connection was the same for every product These values are of course also influenced by the mobile phone used Multiple factors come into play here For example a large screen will require more energy than a small one The type of screen e g LCD OLED AMOLED is also highly relevant By using the same individual device for all test candidates we were able to rule out any such influences AV com
146. to prevent unauthorised access Although the Android lock screen runs in the background and prevents any attempts to bypass it Webroot s own lock screen is displayed on top of it This can include a message for an honest finder which can be edited in the web interface Wipe Text message command wipe lt password gt When the command has been received the device is locked and then personal data is deleted This resets the device to factory settings On our alternative test device with Android 4 1 2 files on the external SD card were not deleted Locate Text message command Locate lt password gt This function serves to find the position of a lost or stolen phone The device is locked in the process If the web interface is used to send the command the device s position will be shown on Google Maps While the software is in the process of finding the device no other commands can be sent This could create problems if the locating process takes some time If a text message is used to send the command the sender will receive a reply with a link to the relevant co ordinates on Google Maps SIM Lock This is only available in the premium version If the registered SIM card is removed the device will be locked when it restarts A thief is thus not able to use the device with their own SIM card Call amp Text Blocking This component prevents unwanted calls and text messages The blacklist principle is used
147. uick Heal Total Security Quick Heal offers a comprehensive security product for Android smartphones which includes all the important functions such as theft protection malware protection and security privacy advisors There are also some additional useful features such as Secure Data Q Quick Heal s Device is Secure E Scan Optimize Secure Set Device Device Data Privacy Installation The installation file was provided for us by the manufacturer Once the licence agreement has been accepted the product has to be activated If the user already has a licence he or she can activate the product directly otherwise a key has to be obtained After this the theft protection component is configured A password of between 6 and 20 characters has to be created The phone number of a trusted person then needs to be entered This will be used to send notifications in the event that the user forgets the password or the SIM card is changed by a thief It is also possible to configure deinstallation protection at this stage This requires the app to be made a device administrator 67 Starting the program When setup has been completed the app s start screen is displayed Additionally a system scan is started automatically The security status is displayed which in our case was shown as being at 95 A message states that tapping the display will let the user increase the security level A menu entitle
148. ul content when surfing the Internet Both blacklists and whitelists are used For the blacklist parents can choose from categories such as games violence or drugs or enter individual URLs manually The whitelist defines URLs that should always be allowed 69 Access to website is blocked for your protection You are visiting a website that is under restricted category Website http Awww thewhiskyexchang e com C 335 aspx Go back If you think this is a mistake please contact your parents or change the Parental Control settings In our quick test the feature worked very well Anti Theft The theft protection component can be found in the program s settings It can be controlled by text message commands or a web interface https mydevice quickheal com 9 Locate a Lock I Wipe The latter is not made obvious by Quick Heal we had to search for it in order to find it For the activation of the feature a One time password OTP is sent which allows the device to be registered Locate Text message command TRACE lt password gt This function locates the smartphone and shows its position using Google Maps The device can be continuously located so that its movements can be tracked If the command is sent by text message the sender will receive a reply with a link to a Quick Heal web page into which a Google Maps map has been embedded The co ordinates are also sent AV comparatives
149. ularly with mobile phones the usage patterns of different users are very varied Some use the multimedia functions extensively others view many documents while some use only the telephone functions We need to differentiate between power users who take advantage of all of the possible functions in the device and traditional users who merely make and receive phone calls In April 2012 AV Comparatives conducted a survey of smartphone use in order to optimise the testing procedure Over a thousand smartphone users from around the world were asked to anonymously answer questions about their smartphone use It was apparent that the respondents made good use of their smartphones features 95 of users surveyed said that they use their phones to surf the Internet and communicate by email whilst over two thirds listen to music or watch videos on their mobiles It was notable that 70 of the users never switch their phones off Smartphones are becoming more and more important to their users who scarcely leave any functions of their devices unused The mobile phone is a ubiquitous means of communication that is supplementing or even replacing the personal computer Telephony is becoming a less important use of the smartphone with 41 of survey respondents saying they only used the device for 1 10 minutes each day Most users spend longer than this on the Internet over 29 for over an hour a day We used the 2012 survey as the basis for our usage statis
150. ves September 2014 90 AV comparatives
151. video files and apps The option to back up only when connected via WiFi is sensible It is also possible to specify that backup should only take place if the battery life is above a certain level Triggers can be set to start the backup process for example every time the device is started or every time the charger is connected Additionally the backup can be run on a schedule with day of the week and time of day specified The backed up files can be seen in the Google Drive web interface avast state that contacts texts and call logs are saved on avast servers in addition to Google Drive Application Locking This function allows specific apps to be password protected Any and all installed apps can be protected in this way avast recommend using the app block to protect the Google Play store and settings as well because otherwise an unauthorised person could bypass the feature Privacy Advisor The Privacy Advisor categorises apps that have privileges such as access to messages location or contacts This provides the user with an overview of possible privacy violations Tapping one of the seven categories shows the apps that have the relevant permissions If the user then taps one of the apps shown detailed information AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 and a button to stop the app immediately are shown Additionally to displaying the permissions avast also provides an Ad D
152. we were unable to proceed The manufacturer informed us that the feature was not available in our area Austria although the app itself showed the status as enabled CheetahMobile then made the function available and so we were able to try it out The function does not reset the device to factory settings which has the advantage that the theft protection remains active and the device can be located Unfortunately CheetahMobile has not included some types of personal data in the wipe feature Mails AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 calendar entries browser history and bookmarks were still accessible after the wipe On our Nexus test device text messages were not deleted although the manufacturer warns the user of this in the web interface This is a known issue with Android 4 4 On our alternative Samsung test device with Android 4 1 2 the text messages were deleted as expected The wipe function deleted files on the SD card of our Samsung Galaxy although it was easy to recover them with our usual freeware tool We see room for improvement with the Wipe function SIM Alert This function sends an email to the user if the SIM card has been changed This worked very reliably in our test The device is not locked however Safe Browsing The safe browsing function is almost invisible being just a button in the app s settings We could not find out exactly which threats the f
153. wizard although Sophos inform us that this is planned for the next version Security Advisor informs the user that the program must be removed from the list of device administrators before being removed The app can then be uninstalled using the Android App Manager Neither the deactivation of Device Administrator status nor the actual deinstallation itself requires a password to be entered This would enable a thief to quickly disable the theft protection software Activating the integrated App Protection is thus highly recommended as this does require a password to be entered before the product can be uninstalled In the current version there is no explicit mention of this from the manufacturer However Sophos is to implement this in the next version 75 Licence Sophos Security and Antivirus is available free of charge with no restrictions Summary Sophos made a good impression in our test The program provides practical features that actively promote security We particularly liked the Security Advisor which points out potentially unsafe settings and the well designed Spam Protection AV comparatives Tencent Mobile Manager Tencent Mobile Manager is a free security solution with extensive functionality and numerous optional add ons Once again Tencent has given this tool new features HS TLE HL Z 73 ma ACF Installing and starting the program The installation file was downloaded from the of
154. y 2 00 021 e Bitdefender Mobile Security 2 19 344 e Qihoo 360 AntiVirus 1 0 0 e CheetahMobile Clean Master 5 6 0 e Sophos Security and Antivirus 3 5 1324 e CheetahMobile CM Security 1 6 1 e Tencent Mobile Manager 4 8 2 e ESET Mobile Security 3 0 937 0 15 e Trend Micro Mobile Security 5 0 e F Secure Mobile Security 9 2 15183 e Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile Complete e G Data Internet Security 25 3 0 3 6 0 6610 e IKARUS mobile security 1 7 20 Ahnlabd avast Avira Bait 5E Cf ae Ger F 5 C cheetahmobile Bitdefender ore G DATA lt HKARUS KASPERSKY E security software KINGSOFT 360 SOPHOS Security Simplified W McAfee An Intel Company Tencent ag TREND wesroot The mobile products of Baidu Kingsoft and Tencent are currently only available as Chinese language versions The result reached in this test by Qihoo is not applicable to the English product version available in the Google playstore which is different to the version that Qihoo provides in Chinese and English on their website A comprehensive overview of the mobile security products available on the market can be seen on our website http www av comparatives org list mobile AV comparatives Product Review Mobile Security July August 2014 www av comparatives org Battery usage Testing the battery usage of a device might appear at first glance to be very straightforward If one goes into more detail the difficulties become apparent Partic
155. y Trend Micro Mobile Product Name AhnLab V3 Mobile Plus avast Mobile Security Avira Antivirus Security Baidu Mobile Security Arabic Bulgarian Czech English Polish Danish E Finnish Norwegian Japanese Russian Hungarian Spanish German Portuguese English Bulgarian Chinese Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Greek German English French Hungarian Indonesian Spanish Portuguese English German Italian English Russian German Danish German Greek English Spanish French Hebrew Hindi Croatian R Koe 4 R Greek Spanish Finnish Hungarian Indonesian x French Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean p Japanese Korean Italian Italian Japanese Korean English Chinese Malay Norwegian Dutch Norwegian Dutch Portuguese Russian Swedish Turkish Chinese English Russian Spanish Italian Indonesian Turkish German Portuguese French Vietnamese Arabic Thai Japanese Korean Hungary Croatian Greek Malay Dutch Slovak Bulgarian Ukrainian Polish Serbian Chinese English Czech French English Danish German Italian Spanish German Russian Portuguese English German French English Portuguese French German Italian Dutch French Romanian Turkish Swedish Chinese Italian French Korean Czech Hebrew Slovak Vietnamese Arabic Bulgarian Thai Chinese Chinese Italian Japanese Korean Italian Dutch Polish
156. yet been carried out When a scan has been carried out another warning is shown by Cheetah Mobile stating that Safe Browsing has not been activated When this too has been carried out the status display changes to blue with the text System is protected Antivirus A virus scan can be run directly from the app s start screen This scans the system and installed apps The SD card and integrated 36 www av comparatives org storage can be scanned by selecting Scan SD Card from the context menu When the scan has finished displayed these include security recommendations For example CheetahMobile recommends installing Safe Browsing This is a link to the manufacturer s own CM Browser in the Google Play Store results are lt Privacy advisor Track location Maxthon Browser and 4 apps Read device info ES File Explorer and 3 apps Access your account information Firefox and 1 apps io 0O Take pictures or videos Opera and 3 apps A Privacy Advisor can be found amongst the recommendations This lists possible privacy breaches shown in four categories In our test the categories Location Device Info Access Account Information and Creating photos and videos were shown Tapping one of the categories displays the apps with the related permissions If one of the apps in the list is then itself tapped details are displayed In our opinion this process leaves room for improvement

Mobile Security Report 2014 - AV

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