Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Anti-Malware Apps

Aug 30, 2017 7:58PM PDT

I guess these Apps can protect against malware, viruses. What if there is spyware built-in the system or hardware?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
A little obvious answer.
Aug 31, 2017 6:51AM PDT
- Collapse -
Antimalware App limitations
Aug 31, 2017 7:01AM PDT

Understood your reply. That means militaries and governments have to build their own phones from ground up for security reasons. Thanks for your reply.

- Collapse -
Or deal with those they trust.
Aug 31, 2017 10:33AM PDT

There are models that claim to be secure but it's all a matter of trust.

I think what https://www.androidcentral.com/best-phone-security noted is worth reading. The most likely to have issues are the cheapest of the cheap Android models as you read in my first reply.

Google and Blackberry have a lot riding on their models. Blackberry phones used to be the de facto standard in US Gov/Mil until Blackberry crashed their servers a few too many times.