Author Topic: Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list  (Read 1905 times)

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Offline ogrfnkl

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Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list
« on: November 26, 2015, 06:38:09 AM »
I have installed Avast Anti-theft on my Cyanogenmod 12.1 Galaxy S4. During the installation, I did set up the cloaking app name, but it appears that there is still a way that a thief can identify this app -- by going to Settings>Manage Apps and selecting the cloaked app, and then, on the app settings screen, right under the app name, it says "app.avast.android.antitheft". I would imagine that a savvy thief would have the sense to go through the app list after a factory reset to see if there is something that might still spy on him/her, don't you think? Is there a way to change the name of the app directory to ensure that it truly avoids detection?

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Re: Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2015, 08:30:03 AM »
Hi,

no as this is not a name of the directory, but a package name of the app. It must uniquely identify an app in the whole Android ecosystem and therefore can't be changed upon user request.

Filip

Offline ogrfnkl

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Re: Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2015, 09:03:29 AM »
Ok, thanks for the reply... So, there is basically no way to completely cloak the app?

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Re: Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2015, 09:18:44 AM »
Not really, unless it's built-in into the system itself. And even after that there will always be ways to identify it, it's just gonna get harder.

Filip

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Re: Anti-theft is cloaked, but can still be detected in apps list
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2015, 11:04:59 PM »
savvy thieves will just reflash a full rom and then anti theft is gone, no matter how it was installed.

dumb / average thieves wont notice the cloaked app I'm sure.