Rooted Droid! Now how to make it secure?

[KissDemon]

Did a search and really didn't see anything on the forums. I rooted my Droid and in searching for what to do next came across info saying that and app you give root access to can do anything, I'm thinking about malware type apps and getting worried. These can hit non-rooted phones too though.

That got me thinking though what are the best steps for securing your Droid. IE: Controlling what access each app has, not sure what else really in the dark when it comes to securing Android OS. Looking specifically at my Moto Droid 1 though.

Thanks for any help / ideas.

 

[justin82]

little unsure of your question.. but if you have superuser installed nothing can reach root access without you granting it permission .

 

[CJM]

If you're rooted, find a gingerbread rom (aka android 2.3.*). They are more secure than froyo roms (android 2.2.*).And for the apps, make sure they have a good rating & lots of downloads before you install them. I had a Droid 1, loaded many rooted apps & didn't get any malware. Personally, I didn't worry about it.

Tapped from a Galaxy Nexus using Xparent ICS

 

[KissDemon]

I am rooted. I'll be looking into the gingerbread roms in a couple hours when I have a chance to sit down again. Any recommendations on Gingerbread roms?

I know apps can't access root without my permission but their are a lot of apps for rooted android that want root access, at least from what I've noticed it seems that way. Some of them don't look all that trustworthy... Also I know there are other sites besides the play store that seem legit and don't seem to be dealing with warez crap but I don't know for sure if they are trustworthy. So is their an app that lets you go through all your apps one at a time and set/override permissions. What I'm thinking is if it's an app thats is only used occasionally I could give it whatever permission it needs run it and then change the permissions to something safer, I'd need to change it back to run it again but it would make me feel safer at least.

Plus with changing permissions after install I think you can disable ads on some free apps, I'm all for paying for what I like but I just don't agree with ad supported apps, I'd rather them do the 30 day trial thing like PC's.

One other note about permissions there are a lot of permissions even in google some apps that aren't root but are still pretty serious and the app only needs it for one feature that I don't use. I'm thinking that the app may still work fine with that permission disabled.

 

[CJM]

I am rooted. I'll be looking into the gingerbread roms in a couple hours when I have a chance to sit down again. Any recommendations on Gingerbread roms?

I know apps can't access root without my permission but their are a lot of apps for rooted android that want root access, at least from what I've noticed it seems that way. Some of them don't look all that trustworthy... Also I know there are other sites besides the play store that seem legit and don't seem to be dealing with warez crap but I don't know for sure if they are trustworthy. So is their an app that lets you go through all your apps one at a time and set/override permissions. What I'm thinking is if it's an app thats is only used occasionally I could give it whatever permission it needs run it and then change the permissions to something safer, I'd need to change it back to run it again but it would make me feel safer at least.

Plus with changing permissions after install I think you can disable ads on some free apps, I'm all for paying for what I like but I just don't agree with ad supported apps, I'd rather them do the 30 day trial thing like PC's.

One other note about permissions there are a lot of permissions even in google some apps that aren't root but are still pretty serious and the app only needs it for one feature that I don't use. I'm thinking that the app may still work fine with that permission disabled.

The last gingerbread rom I ran was cyanogen mod 7. If you go that route, get the last release candidate (rc#). They are usually more stable than the nightlys.

Once you give an app permission, you can change that in the superuser app. Don't know of another app that does that. I only used apps from Amazon & the play store. The apps on some of those other sites always worried me, so I stayed away from them.

And some apps do seem to have weird permissions. The messaging app for instance. It needs those permissions for various reasons like auto correct. Changing them might cause problems.

Tapped from a Galaxy Nexus using Xparent ICS