User Guidance

Users should be wary of granting applications dangerous or privacy-intrusive permissions, such as access to notifications.

Users should be taught that Device Administrator permissions are very dangerous, and very few applications need it.

Users should be wary of granting applications dangerous or privacy-intrusive permissions, such as access to microphone or audio output.

Users should be encouraged to be very careful with what applications they grant phone call-based permissions to. Further, users should not change their default call handler to applications they do not recognize.

Users should be trained on what device administrator permission request prompts look like, and how to avoid granting permissions on phishing popups.

Users should be cautioned against granting administrative access to applications.

Users should be advised to be extra scrutinous of applications that request location or sensitive phone information permissions, and to deny any permissions requests for applications they do not recognize.

Users should be wary of iMessages from unknown senders. Additionally, users should be instructed not to open unrecognized links or other attachments in text messages.

If a user sees a persistent notification they do not recognize, they should uninstall the source application and look for other unwanted applications or anomalies.

Users should be advised that applications generally do not require permission to send SMS messages.

Providing user guidance around commonly abused features, such as the modal that requests for administrator permissions, should aid in preventing impairing defenses.

Inform users that device rooting or granting unnecessary access to the accessibility service presents security risks that could be taken advantage of without their knowledge.

Users should be wary of granting applications dangerous or privacy-intrusive permissions, such as keyboard registration or accessibility service access.

Users should be warned against granting access to accessibility features, and to carefully scrutinize applications that request this dangerous permission.

Users should be wary of granting applications dangerous or privacy-intrusive permissions, such as access to location information. Users should also protect their account credentials and enable multi-factor authentication options when available.

Users should be encouraged to only install apps from authorized app stores, which are less likely to contain malicious repackaged apps.

Users should be instructed to not grant applications unexpected or unnecessary permissions.

Users can be trained to identify social engineering techniques and phishing emails.

Users should be taught the danger behind granting unnecessary permissions to an application and should be advised to use extra scrutiny when an application requests them.

Users should be encouraged to be very careful with granting dangerous permissions, such as device administrator or access to device accessibility.

Users should be advised not to use public charging stations or computers to charge their devices. Instead, users should be issued a charger acquired from a trustworthy source. Users should be advised not to click on device prompts to trust attached computers unless absolutely necessary.

Users should be advised not to grant consent for screen captures to occur unless expected. Users should avoid enabling USB debugging (Android Debug Bridge) unless explicitly required.

Users should be encouraged to be very careful with what applications they grant SMS access to. Further, users should not change their default SMS handler to applications they do not recognize.^[1]

iOS users should be instructed to not download applications from unofficial sources, as applications distributed via the Apple App Store cannot list installed applications on a device.

Users should be instructed to not open links in applications they don’t recognize.

Typically, insecure or malicious configuration settings are not installed without the user's consent. Users should be advised not to install unexpected configuration settings (CA certificates, iOS Configuration Profiles, Mobile Device Management server provisioning).