What are the security implications of using a no name tablet?

[Bort]

@zoulas

@Bort

So what are the issues with allowing the new tablet access to my current wifi that also hosts my phone, Samsung tablet and desktop computer?

You know at this point its better to just use it and report back any anomalies like a few hundred more spam emails per day, or links to change your citibank password from a doman name in China.

I suppose i can replace my large bank account balance with more bitcoin after i pay the ransomware fee.

[raccoon]

Hey Bort,

Your signature looks a lot better now!

Congrats on fixing whatever was wrong with it before.

[Bort]

@raccoon city

Hey Bort,

Your signature looks a lot better now!

Congrats on fixing whatever was wrong with it before.

Thanks, i had help from a generous BLF member to solve the issue :innocent:

[Correllux]

With any luck your new hardware will have secret firmware that lets you quietly take part in a worldwide botnet: Cloudflare blocks 15M rps HTTPS DDoS attack

After the Lenovo scandal and the jillions of USB flash drives with embedded malware, I’m pretty much sold on buying clean-out-of-the-box hardware from trusted sources. I think I’d be a little more hesitant still these days after all the ruckus between governments. But there are sooo many off-brand devices used by millions of people around the world and most of them are probably just fine.

[Bort]

@Bort

So what are the issues with allowing the new tablet access to my current wifi that also hosts my phone, Samsung tablet and desktop computer?

Bumping this question, any thoughts?

[Bort]

@Bort

@Bort

So what are the issues with allowing the new tablet access to my current wifi that also hosts my phone, Samsung tablet and desktop computer?

Bumping this question, any thoughts?

Second bump

[AgentSteel]

Should be ok… install a good anti-malware app just to reassure you, and use it.

[Bort]

@AgentSteel

Should be ok… install a good anti-malware app just to reassure you, and use it.

Whats a good (and hopefully free) Android anti malware app?

[AgentSteel]

I would try Kaspersky Antivirus & VPN from the Google play store and full scan the tablet.

(But any other of the antivirus big names would do)

[raccoon]

It's too bad that Adwcleaner isn't available on Android.

For Windows, it's excellent for getting rid of malware extremely quickly.

[Bort]

I’ve turned off file sharing on the desktop computer (control panel, searched for file sharing) and plan to allow the tablet to use my Wifi. Hopefully this is sufficient protection on my network.

[Tatteredmidnight]

Please take this as constructive feedback, but this forum is a very strange place to ask about computer security. I would take any information or advice you get with a very large grain of salt. This isn’t meant to disparage anyone here, but I would suggest you post this question on a tech oriented forum. level1techs, Lawrence systems, or even Linus Tech Tips come to mind. XDA Developers may be another potential resource here, since it’s android focused.

[Bort]

@Tatteredmidnight

Please take this as constructive feedback, but this forum is a very strange place to ask about computer security. I would take any information or advice you get with a very large grain of salt. This isn’t meant to disparage anyone here, but I would suggest you post this question on a tech oriented forum. level1techs, Lawrence systems, or even Linus Tech Tips come to mind. XDA Developers may be another potential resource here, since it’s android focused.

One uses the forums they know/are members of.
And since you know of those others thanks for suggesting them, i will look into them.

[Tatteredmidnight]

I genuinely hope this helps and can get you a more complete picture of the risks involved and mitigations available to you. I am a software architect by trade and started in on a whole post about your question, but ultimately I’m just another voice on a flashlight forum .

Best of luck to you!

[Bort]

@Tatteredmidnight

I genuinely hope this helps and can get you a more complete picture of the risks involved and mitigations available to you. I am a software architect by trade and started in on a whole post about your question, but ultimately I’m just another voice on a flashlight forum .

Best of luck to you!

Thanks and feel free to post it here.

[AgentSteel]

Yes it would be nice

[Marc_E]

@Tatteredmidnight

Please take this as constructive feedback, but this forum is a very strange place to ask about computer security. I would take any information or advice you get with a very large grain of salt. This isn’t meant to disparage anyone here, but I would suggest you post this question on a tech oriented forum. level1techs, Lawrence systems, or even Linus Tech Tips come to mind. XDA Developers may be another potential resource here, since it’s android focused.

I can’t speak for the forum but although this is a flashlight forum i also see a community of flashlight enthusiasts with many other interests and skills, so asking the community for off-topic advice seems natural to me. It just makes sense to tap into the community’s wider knowledge.

Your response of guiding the OP to where they might find the answer is a good example of this working, and if you have knowledge to share i’m interested in hearing it.

[azj]

Your best bet is to go to https://www.xda-developers.com/ and see if there’s a forum section on there somewhere for that particular “droid”. That site is the “goto” for firmwares and proper rooting/flashing instructions, even for people who dont understand what I just said

Up until around the galaxy 7 I used to root my phone just so I had full access to back everything up properly to my sdcard, however now I no longer do so now that it’s finally built in to the damn thing. The only reason I’d consider it would be to get rid of bloat, but a no-name like you have would be a really good reason to flash a good OS.