Quote:
Originally Posted by Question Mark
My security settings wouldn't let me download the file. Avast apparently detected some kind of threat. Previously, in a similar type situation, it would send the file for testing and then let me install it later, usually about 36 hours later, if it seemed to be harmless. So not sure what has happened here
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Interesting, I checked. I passed the zip file to virustotal, and it is recognized as infected by two antivirus over 59, Avast and AVG (check the attached table).
Of course, the file I posted, code-wise, contains a radically minimal instruction (just, in Android terms, "declare an intent to open the settings and perform it") - the low-level code is again attached -, plus two pieces of the Android code from google that are inserted automatically for compatibility between android versions (android.support.annotation and android.support.v4).
So, the conclusion would be: in an age of information science (of models), antivirus software still can immensely suffer from false positives besides false negatives. Moreover, I will not believe that Avast and AVG found a missing detail when the 57 other software application did not, and I tend to believe that they are simply identifying viruses through hashes that are too subject to collision to be fingerprints.