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Does your Android phone need a virus scanner?

Many people do not use a virus scanner on their Android phone, but do use it on their computer. Is that stupid, or is an antivirus a waste of money? This is everything you need to know about the (un)usefulness of virus scanners for your Android phone.

Virus scanner on Android: must, or unnecessary?...Because a little smartphone can do just as much as a computer in 2023, you may wonder whether it is necessary to put a virus scanner on your phone. According to figures from the CBS about 30 percent of phone owners have no idea whether they use an antivirus program or not. In addition, a small 20 percent have no form of protection on their smartphone.

Is that stupid, or does your Android not need a virus scanner at all? As is often the case, the answer to that question cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”.

Not an egg from Columbus...On the one hand, antivirus apps do make for a more protected phone. However, a virus scanner on your Android is not the egg of Columbus. That has everything to do with how an antivirus apps work. Most apps use a blacklist to check which programs are bad. If you try to install such an application on your phone, the virus scanner in question will start beeping.

That is easier said than done. According to research by Statesman more than 480,000 programs with malware, the most well-known type of virus, are added every month. These types of programs usually try to knock money out of people’s wallets by stealing personal data and, for example, installing fake (banking) apps on your device. Well-known variants of Android malware that emerged last year are FluBot, Joker and GriftHorse.

With more than 16,000 malware-infected programs being added every day, antivirus app makers don’t have an easy job. After all, they must ensure that their lists of good/wrong apps are always up to date. Well-known viruses such as FluBot receive sufficient media attention, for example at Android Planetbut you can bet that thousands of programs remain under the radar.

Not all Android virus scanners are good...It is therefore very important not to rely blindly on your virus scanner. After all, the programs that are supposed to protect our phones also make mistakes, according to research by AV Comparatives. This cybersecurity company examined more than 250 Android virus scanners and concluded that more than two-thirds offered no or only moderate protection.

Fortunately, there were also positive outliers. From the large-scale study of AV Comparatives turns out that the Android antivirus apps from Bitdefender, Kaspersky, McAfee, Avast in AVG had their security in order. These programs were able to pick out malicious apps with malware with a reasonable degree of precision. If you are not very handy with smartphones, it is definitely worth installing a virus scanner on your Android.

This way you can prevent malware and other junk...That said, prevention is obviously better than cure. If you stick to a few rules, you can considerably limit the chance of viruses and other internet mischief.

A very important precaution is to only download official apps from the Play Store. Google’s own app store continuously scans its range for the possible presence of viruses and thus tries to protect you by killing malicious programs.

Do you go outside the Play Store to download apps? Then be very aware of the risks. Do research in advance about the app you want to download, know exactly what the program does and who is behind it. To save you from possible errors, you cannot download apk files on your Android phone by default. You have to activate this option yourself. In the article below we explain exactly how this works.

Also important: make sure your phone is always updated. You do this by installing software updates as soon as possible. Google releases a monthly security update. As the name suggests, this update closes “holes” in the security of the operating system.

Unfortunately, not all Android phones receive security updates on a regular basis. From figures from Which? it turns out that more than 40 percent of Android smartphones no longer receive updates and are therefore running on an outdated version of the security system. If your device falls under this group, it may be useful to install an antivirus app.

More secure passwords and better logins...It is also important to use a good password manager. Programs like 1Password, Bitwarden in Dashlane store and manage all your login details in a secure vault. All you have to do is remember the master password. If you know these, you can create and remember strong new passwords for apps and websites with a password manager.

Also, turn on two-step verification where possible. This adds an extra layer of security to logging in. So you don’t need just a login name and password, but you also have to enter a unique code (via an authenticator app). In this way you reduce the chance that malicious people gain access to your online accounts.

The most important tip is to always use common sense. For example, banks never ask for your login details by SMS and especially do not click on the link in an alleged message from DPD if you are not expecting a package. When your water says that something may be wrong, it is better to google before you take action.

Source: Android Planet