Am I missing something here? So the password used to access the Anti-Theft features is the exact same password that gets sent in unencrypted text via a SMS message?!
What’s the point of locking a phone if the next SMS Command I send (such as Locate) is going to show up as a pop-up in the notification bar, giving away the very same password that can be used to unlock the phone?!
What am I missing?
Shouldn’t access to the AT features be a different password than what is being sent clear as day via SMS for remote control?! I love avast!'s products, but I just can’t wrap my head around this decision. Can anyone alleviate my concern about this?
Other programs, such as WaveSecure at least internalize this process so the password cannot be seen.
Okay… so here’s my scenario: I realize my phone is gone. My first step, before anything else, is to lock it. So I send the SMS command.
So, theoretically, the phone locks, and the alarm sounds alerting anyone who may have it, that it’s been lost or stolen and security is being used to track it.
On my end, now that I have it secured, I want to try and track it down. So I send LOCATE. When the phone receives this text message, the little Messaging notification is going to flash up saying “Message from : LOCATE.”
Now, assuming it’s been stolen and is in someone’s hand. They have just seen the very same password that was used to LOCK the phone used to try and LOCATE (or sound Alarm, or any other given command you want). So, they punch it in, and UNLOCK the phone.
Like I said, I’m trying to figure out where my understanding is wrong. It’s one thing if you have one password that is used from friendly identifiable phones (so my password is only accepted if it comes from the Buddy phone numbers) AND a separate one that ONLY works LOCALLY. They should never be the same, so even when I send the SMS password, it will only trigger remote functions IF it’s coming from a Buddy number. This remote password in theory should NOT work for the guy holding the phone and seeing a message flash in as a notification on the lock screen.
McAfee’s WaveSecure does its lockdown, tracking, and (if necessary) wiping out of view there isn’t an actual text that ever arrives as far as the phone is concerned, so the person who has it in their hands never sees the password being used if I lock it then track it.
Turyleon.
I don’t now know what type of phone do you use.
I am using samsung galaxy S3 and when I send the password command (locate) to the pretend ‘LOST’ phone.
I can see and check that this pretend lost phone doesn’t received any sms or notification at all BUT it will turn on the WIFI or Mobile Data automatically. I guess it will send the GPS or data location.
I couldn’t find any sms trace or received about the password command at all so the ‘lost’ phone received it silenty, no sound or notification at all.
After that I received sms with the link to the website to view the map from the phone that I send sms command from.
Hope it helps.
I am guessing different phone received differently but I leave the support expert to explain further in details.
Can you please advice which decvice and android version do you use? Anti theft is handling SMS events and intents, so you should not see any notifications about incoming messages when Anti theft is set on. If you see it, please report the details to be able do some research and fixes. Thank you.
You obviously MUST be using a thirdparty sms application, my S3 with ICS 4.0.4 (XXFLB firmware) doesnt do that at all.
Like the above said, AT handles all incoming SMS…
You can choose to only have your friends phone(s) to remote control it but not restrict your stolen phone from controlling it.
upgrade to newest anti-theft (if not done so already). it should warn you about incompatible 3rd party SMS tools when you launch it. did you get (and maybe ignore) such a warning?
There are many companies interested in our track consumer behavior. Recently it was revealed that Apple and Android track the GPS locations of users in some versions of the operating system. There are vehicles which are installed in gps car tracking to always be possible to know what their position, not only in the case of auto theft. There are special applications for fleet management or lock tracking, useful for monitoring the location of all devices.
Someone said ‘Big Brother’?
No, but you can look into your Mayan calendar to see when all the spookies will fall. What ybout your money? Do you know, that the banknotes are trackable too? As well as coins?