Check for hidden Android device administrators
Device Administration on Android is a powerful API that was first introduced in Android 2.2. It offers features at the system level which makes available features such as remotely wiping the storage on a device or enforcing password policies.
Apps that require Device Administrator privileges prompt users to do so and when users confirm the rights have access to the API.
You can check which apps have these rights on any Android device running 2.2 or higher. To do so open the settings on the device and select security afterwards.
There you should find an option to open all device administrators on the device. Administrators are listed with their name and a short description of what they do. You also see if they are currently enabled or not, and can change the state there are as well.
One issue that Android users may have encountered in the past is that malicious apps exploited this. Some apps did not show up on the list even though they had the same privileges and should have been listed on the device administrators page.
Trend Micro's Hidden Device Admin Detector has been designed to scan the Android device for these hidden administrators.
The app itself is dead easy to use. Simply tap on the "click here to scan" button to run a quick scan for hidden administrators on the device.
The scan should not take long and will run its course if no hidden administrators are found.
If it discovers a hidden administrator it will prompt you directly given you the option to deactivate any hidden administrator on the system.
To do so remove the checkmark from the box and confirm the prompt that appears afterwards.
If you are interested in learning more about malware that exploits this head over to the Trend Micro blog where you find detailed information about malware that exploited this last year.
Closing Words
I cannot say if this issue can still be exploited by malware or not in recent versions of Android. Considering that many are still running older versions of the operating system on their devices with no chance of ever getting an upgrade, it is at least something that is interesting to them.
The app itself requires no special rights so that it won't hurt to run it.
Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.
He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.
Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?
Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?
Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.
The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.
It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.
> The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…
Sadly, I have to agree.
Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.
If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!
We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.
because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…
“Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.
How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.
Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.
Sorry posted on the wrong page.
such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time
I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.
I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S
Quoting the article,
“As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”
Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?
I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.
@John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]
This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.
> Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.
Firefox did this long before Safari.
Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.