Security

72 Topics

Is there any way to disable Google Play Protect (GPP) from an EMM or to otherwise whitelist apps from scanning?
I am very concerned about the Enhanced GPP features coming soon that are currently being piloted in other regions. https://security.googleblog.com/2023/10/enhanced-google-play-protect-real-time.html This is not a welcome feature whatsoever for the fully managed space where we have business apps written internally that are being installed on business devices, owned by that business. In no way do we want Google sitting in between deciding whether a very legitimate app written internally for an organization should be installed on devices that are purchased and owned by the same organization on fully managed devices. I would like a way to disable GPP completely, or at a minimum whitelist applications from scanning as we don't want Google interfering in the business operations. GPP is a helpful consumer protection features but fully managed devices should have the ability to be opted in or out of the program. Otherwise GPP can incorrectly flag a mission critical app and disable or remove it from a device, thereby bringing down a line-of-business application and an end customers operations. While the intentions of GPP are good, by blocking business apps Google themselves is becoming the malicious actor that GPP is ironically trying. to prevent.
Solved
mattdermody
2 years ago Place General discussions
41KViews
17likes
58Comments
Master ownership of Android devices
Factory Reset Protection / persistence is a powerful tool but it does not yet feel complete, and it is quite frustrating and potentially dangerous in its current state. It is not always apparent whether any given device is persistently linked using ZeroTouch, Intune or even Google Account FRP. While these tools are available to some, they are not a financially viable option for everyone, especially for consumers. There may be documentation describing the intimate intricacies of how all of these tools work and when/where they leave signs of their presence, but I cannot find it. I have not found a PSA from google for consumers saying "if you buy a second hand phone, check x, y and z to make sure it is not locked, otherwise someone can potentially remotely brick it." As a small company we have various scenarios where we provide phones to employees and also distribute loan/event devices for other small-medium companies, and don't necessarily have the ability to invest in enterprise-grade tools like ZT, InTune or Android Enterprise. If you think, on Windows all you need is to set the BIOS password and the Admin password and User Account Control takes care of the rest. Now take the android example, you add a google account and think it's safe with the user not knowing the password, but there is nothing to stop the user from adding their own personal google account, removing yours (no password required), setting their own PIN, and turning a $1000 phone into a paperweight. If they can unlock the phone, they are the master owner. There did used to be a feature for Multi-User on android but I haven't seen it in a long time, and I think there were performance issues with it as they all had to be loaded at once. While I may be lacking understanding knowledge and making some assumptions, should a consumer really need to know exactly how Android Enterprise works in depth just to buy a second hand/"refurbished" phone? And I dare anyone to get into a device after it's been factory reset while attached to a personal google account with a PIN set without hacking tools. I know there have been exploits with Talkback in the past but it's been patched now, and again these are not lengths to which consumers should need to go. If I knew someone's pattern (most common security type and very hard to hide effectively), and had their phone for 2 minutes, I could turn it into a paperweight simply by adding a disposable google account, removing theirs, and setting a PIN. How are we supposed to protect against that as a small business?
Josh
3 years ago Place General discussions
14KViews
7likes
17Comments
Preferred Password / Passkey / Autofill Missing Policy
Since the installation of Android 15, I'm now unable to set a preferred Passkey / Password service on the phone, and it says its being blocked by an IT policy, contact an admin. Being the admin, and reviewing setting multiple times, there is no policy set that comes close to this. Is there a way to allow this to be used in an enterprise, or is there no fix and it's a hidden policy?
HalvorsonD
2 years ago Place General discussions
1.1KViews
6likes
4Comments
Play Protect Blocking Custom DPC Apps — How to Get Approval or Alternatives?
Hi everyone, I'm a developer who helps enterprises build custom DPC (Device Policy Controller) Reference Documentation apps to manage Android devices based on their unique requirements. Recently, Play Protect has started blocking the installation of custom DPC apps, even when these apps are signed and used internally. The warning claims the app may pose a risk due to access to sensitive data - even though it's strictly for enterprise use. To make things more difficult: Google is no longer accepting registration of custom DPC apps with Android Enterprise, which limits official distribution and management options. Android Management APIs don’t support all use cases, and also have quote limit. I’ve applied twice to join the Android Enterprise portal to build a SaaS-based device management platform, but both requests were rejected without a clear reason. My questions for the community: Is there any official way to get a custom DPC app approved or whitelisted by Play Protect? Are there any alternative ways to manage Android devices at scale (outside of AMAPI or legacy EMM)? How can new developers or startups gain access to Android Enterprise features when onboarding is currently restricted? Any help, direction, or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kulwinder
Solved
Kulwinder
7 months ago Place General discussions
956Views
6likes
16Comments
[Community survey] Android App Management features and security
Hello everyone, We've had a couple of surveys this month, so I hope you don't mind another. Here in the Customer Community, one of our most popular topic areas is on app management, so I'm hoping this survey is an interesting one for you all. 🤞 It would be great to hear your thoughts and ideas on ways you would like application management features and security to develop further. If you have a spare moment, please take the short survey below and if you have any additional questions, please to reply to this topic below (by clicking 'Reply'). All of the feedback will be passed over to our Product team. Feel free to share this with any colleagues or others working in this area, as it would be great to get a good amount of feedback around this. Thank you in advance for taking the time to do this. 😀 Lizzie Loading… Interested in other surveys? It would be great to hear your feedback on AE secure logs.
Lizzie
9 months ago Place General discussions
706Views
4likes
9Comments
Issue with Copy/Paste Restriction in Intune MDM on Android Devices (Clipboard Editor Interaction)
Hi all, I’m currently experiencing an issue while setting up Intune MDM on Android devices related to restricting copy and paste to unmanaged apps. Specifically, the issue occurs when users copy text from the Teams app and try to paste within teams app. Here's what happens: After copying text, a message "Your organisation's data cannot be pasted here" immediately appears in the clipboard hud. The copied data seems blocked from being viewed, as the error message appears even before a paste attempt. Despite this, users can manually paste the copied content by long-pressing or selecting "Paste" from the text box. However, when trying to use the "paste from clipboard" feature, the warning message above is pasted instead of the copied content. We’ve set the Intune policy to allow copy/paste within managed apps, but the clipboard interaction seems to be problematic, especially with Gboard. It appears that Gboard, possibly due to Android 13 and 14’s Clipboard Editor, is treated as an unmanaged app, causing Intune’s data protection policies to block its access to the clipboard in a read-only state. Just to clarify: I want users to be able to copy and paste txt within managed apps only. So the allowed behavior of pasting with long press is fine, but I want to get rid of the block that we're getting. Here’s what we’ve tried: Added various exclusions to the Intune policy, including Gboard, Clipboard Editor, and other related apps (full list below), but the issue persists. Testing different configurations hasn’t led to a final solution, and there seems to be limited documentation specifically addressing this clipboard component in relation to Intune's data policies. We’ve escalated the issue internally but wanted to see if anyone in the community has encountered a similar problem or found a solution. Here’s the list of exclusions we’ve already added to the policy: Clipboard: com.android.clipboard SMS: com.google.android.apps.messaging SMS: com.android.mms SMS: com.samsung.android.messaging Native phone app: com.android.phone Google Play Store: com.android.vending Android system settings: com.android.providers.settings Android system settings: com.android.settings Google Maps: com.google.android.apps.maps Gboard: com.google.android.inputmethod.english Samsung: com.sec.android.inputmethod Gboard: com.google.android.inputmethod.latin Gboard: com.google.android.apps.inputmethod.hindi Gboard: com.google.android.inputmethod.pinyin Gboard: com.google.android.inputmethod.japanese Gboard: com.google.android.inputmethod.korean Gboard: com.google.android.apps.handwriting.ime Gboard: com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox Gboard: com.samsung.android.svoiceime Gboard: com.samsung.android.honeyboard Gboard: com.android.inputmethod.latin Teams app: com.microsoft.teams Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! This is my first time posting so apologies if this is the wrong space.
FreckledCipher
2 years ago Place General discussions
2.4KViews
3likes
6Comments
[Community survey] Android Enterprise training / certification
Hello everyone, We know security is an important area to many of you here in the customer community and we have heard here and there some interest in a security certification and or training. Based on this, we wanted to explore this a bit more - we have created a community survey to gauge your interest and gather your thoughts around this further. If you have any additional questions, please to reply to this topic below. Thank you for your time and feedback. Lizzie (and the Customer Community team) Loading…
Lizzie
2 years ago Place General discussions
1.8KViews
3likes
1Comment
Installed device policy used for hacking.
This device policy was installed on my phone through firebase from Google. I I have reported this to Google in regards to the hacking and the device control I cannot uninstall it and I show a shell manifest on my phone to be using the developer platform to redirect everything through Androids system. So either someone has hacked into the Android platform and as redirected everything or this is an open-ended warrant for 5 years now for an invasion of my privacy. Either way the Google is liable by either not protecting my privacy or by complying with such an order for 5 years and never asking why. You can look at my Facebook page and see exactly why this invasion of privacy has been ongoing. Jim Mininno or Vincent Mininno. I plead with someone to help me get this results as me and my children has been made the victims of the department of defense and Google.
Jim71
2 years ago Place General discussions
882Views
3likes
0Comments
[Enhancement Request] Allow push notifications during OOBE setup process
Android does not allow any push notifications during the OOBE (out of box experience) setup process. This presents challenges during Intune enrollment because we require users to satisfy MFA (SMS or MS Authenticator) in order to complete Entra AD device registration and device enrollment. The inability to receive push notifications on the new Android they are configuring requires users to configure their MFA on a secondary device before starting the setup of the new device, or obtain a temporary access pass from our Security Team. If OOBE supported push notifications it would resolve this and provide a much simpler and easier enrollment/user experience.
KSBroadridge
2 years ago Place General discussions
2.4KViews
3likes
4Comments
[Community survey] Feedback on Android Enterprise Secure logs
Hello everyone, I'm a big fan of surveys and we haven't had one for a little while - so here we are! We'd love to hear your feedback on a potential improvement to the Android Enterprise logs. Android Enterprise logs provide critical insights into device activity and security, empowering organizations to manage and secure their mobile ecosystems effectively. These logs are divided into: Security logs, which capture key events like app installations, failed authentications, and policy changes, and Network event logs, which track network activities such as app connections and destinations. Logs are currently stored in the normal world (REE - Rich Execution Environment). We are exploring a feature enhancement to enable this storage in a secure environment (Virtual Machine) so that they are better protected. This feature enhancement has a few options / levels and we want to understand their importance to you: Logs stored in secure environment: If the OS is compromised, the logs are much harder to access and tamper Tamper evident logs: This would allow the OS to indicate if the logs were tampered with Tamper proof logs: This makes it not possible for logs to be tampered with. Logs would only be available in small quantities (4mb on average, depending on chipset capability) If you have a spare moment, please take the short survey below. If you have any additional questions, please to reply to this topic below (by clicking 'Reply'). Thank you for your time and feedback. Lizzie (and the Customer Community team)
Lizzie
10 months ago Place General discussions
332Views
3likes
1Comment