> On Feb 3, 2025, at 9:56 AM, charles meyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> My esteemed listmates,
> 
> Economic crimes are probably here to stay.
> 
> The miscreants are already working QR codes to their advantage.
> 
> One suggestion I read about was to use a security app on your cell along with a QR reader.
> 
> Which security apps have you found reliable?
> 
> Are they both for Androids and iPhones?
> 
> How do they work in conjunction with your QR reader for cell phone camera?
> 
> e.g. Do you have to activate the scrutoty app and then use your QR reader or then snap the photo?
> 
> Are you using Avast as your AV on your phone already?
> Have you found more dependable AV apps for your cell?


QR codes used in this way are basically just URLs that they tell the browser to load, so you need a security program that either analyzes websites for malicious code, or that checks against a list regularly for known bad websites.

... and in general, it's a good idea to use something like that anyway, QR code or not.  (you could get a malicious website loaded from any app).  And I think there are ones for most operating systems that block network calls at a pretty low
level, so it should work without automatically, no matter the app being used.

It's possible that someone could figure out how to crash the QR reader to force exploit code without the page being loaded, or use data: or javascript: URLs, but I don't remember seeing any warnings (yet) about that sort of exploit.

(there were some attacks that worked against text messages where it didn't even need to be read)

-Joe

(unaffiliated)