Because a file manager app asking for Full Disk Access is not suspicious, and Full Disk Access is one hell of a good way to get access to data to exfiltrate. There likely wouldn’t even be suspicion if it also asked for Internet access: if it supports connecting to network shares, you wouldn’t think twice about it having that permission.
It’s always apps that you definitely don’t need in the first place. File managers, battery savers, RAM managers, etc. The users who would think to install those kinds of apps, when their phone already likely already has built-in (and probably better) support for that functionality, are the same users malware developers look to target. They’re usually not tech savvy, and less likely to realize that their data’s been compromised, and even less likely to determine who compromised it.
Why is it always file manager apps?
Because a file manager app asking for Full Disk Access is not suspicious, and Full Disk Access is one hell of a good way to get access to data to exfiltrate. There likely wouldn’t even be suspicion if it also asked for Internet access: if it supports connecting to network shares, you wouldn’t think twice about it having that permission.
Simple File Manager Pro is FOSS. Just use this if you have to get a third party file manager.
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.filemanager.pro/
Also Material Files or Amaze are good and well-known ones.
It’s always apps that you definitely don’t need in the first place. File managers, battery savers, RAM managers, etc. The users who would think to install those kinds of apps, when their phone already likely already has built-in (and probably better) support for that functionality, are the same users malware developers look to target. They’re usually not tech savvy, and less likely to realize that their data’s been compromised, and even less likely to determine who compromised it.
Removed by mod