Chrome Developer Tools On Android: How To Catch Malicious Content Uploaders

The Chrome engineer instruments are usable on the work area side and can be utilized on Android to grasp the source that arranged the stacking of malignant substances. This a gainful methodology, particularly for website admins; we prescribe it to additional accomplished clients keen on understanding how the web functions “in the background”.

Throughout the long term, numerous clients have revealed the presence of trick screens that generally target Android gadget proprietors: the message abruptly springs up while perusing the web from your cell phone. It flags that you have won a cell phone or another mechanical item. There isn’t anything all the more misleading: these messages are spread to gather clients’ information and initiate memberships to premium administrations.

We need to call attention to promptly that, as a rule, these trick messages are uncovered without the information on the directors of the accurate site you are visiting. Besides, the site you are visiting is generally not contaminated: it has not been exposed to any infringement or digital assault, as many might naturally suspect from the get-go.

Web Admins And More Savvy Users: Use Chrome’s Developer Tools To Debug And Get To The Source Of The Problem

The Google Chrome browser, as you know, integrates the so-called Developer Tools or Developer Tools, a great help for website development and troubleshooting. To access the Chrome Developer Tools, press the F12 key from any open tab in the Google browser.

The Inspect element function allows, for example, to trace the code that arranges the rendering of any object contained in the web page and even allows you to make changes in real-time to solve, for example, problems related to style sheets (CSS ) and JavaScript code ( we talked about it in the article Modify web page from the browser with Inspect element ). If accessing Developer Tools from Chrome installed on a desktop system is easy, how to debug Chrome on Android?

Android Debugging: Chrome Integrates Tools To Identify The Cause Of Problems Even On Mobile Devices

To determine which element (usually JavaScript code) loaded together with any web page causes problems and causes, for example, the display of unwanted messages on the Android device, the following procedure can be applied:

• On your Android device, go to the operating system settings, access the About phone or tablet section, and quickly tapBuild number at least seven times. Some manufacturers rename this item by calling it, for example, Version, followed by the name of the Android customization installed on your smartphone. This will add the Developer Options menu within the Android settings.
• Access the Developer options menu, then activate the USB debugging option.
• Connect the smartphone to the PC via a USB cable.
• Launch the latest version of Chrome browser on your desktop system, open a new tab ( CTRL+T ), then type chrome://inspect/#devices in the address bar and press Enter.
• In the window that will appear, check that the Discover USB devices box is ticked. After a few seconds of waiting, a message will appear on the smartphone (only on the first connection attempt), through which you must authorize the connection from the PC.
• The name of the connected device and the Version of Chrome installed are shown in the lower part of the window. A little further down, the browser shows the list of all open tabs on the mobile side of Chrome.
• By clicking on Inspect, in correspondence with one of the sites open on the smartphone or tablet, Chrome will show the same page and the same site opened in Chrome on the smartphone will be displayed. By typing an address in the Open tab with the URL box, you will be prompted to open the specific address.
• On the left side of the window, the web page you visit is shown exactly as it appears on your smartphone. Using the mouse wheel to scroll it, you can see how the same effect is replicated on the smartphone.
• To understand which elements are loaded on the Android device from the web page, click the Network tab and press F5 to reload.

We suggest checking the Preserve log box above to keep the logs even if, for example, any code (JavaScript or otherwise) triggers a page reload or a redirect. By typing the URL of the page to be studied on Chrome for Android or in the Developer Tools screen, all the elements that make up the page or which are called in a chain will be shown one after the other in the Network tab.

At this point, with a bit of patience, by examining the contents of the Name and Initiator columns, it will be possible to understand the nature of the problem and establish with certainty which element caused the loading of another object. By scrolling up from the last items to the top of the list shown in the Network screen of the Tools for developers, it will be possible, for example, to go back to an element loaded from third-party sources, which has the display of malicious or fraudulent content.

The Group by frame checkbox helps further isolate the problem by grouping all elements loaded from the same frame within the web page. Remember to turn off USB Debugging in Developer Options on your Android device when done.

Also Read: Cybersecurity: How Microsoft Wants To Protect Businesses