Am I Being Overly Protective?

VPN
1

For the past six months, I’ve been running an app called Lock Launcher - Screen Widgets by a developer named 自力黄 on my iPhone. This app integrates Live Activities with Shortcuts and allows me to quickly access apps on my iPhone’s lock screen without swiping up when my iPhone is unlocked.

I use Norton 360 on my iPhone, even though I understand its limitations. For example, I know it cannot scan my iPhone for malicious threats and quarantine or remove them entirely. However, it helps me prevent visiting malicious sites through URL redirects with Norton’s Safe Web VPN (not its Secure VPN – they are different). Safe Web VPN works in every app and detects every URL each app is contacting, reviewing them against Norton’s Safe Web tool.

I mention this because Norton detected Lock Launcher - Screen Widgets was contacting a malicious domain and prevented the app from fully connecting to the domain. I understand that one reason people avoid Norton 360 is its tendency for false positives compared to other antivirus software.

I copied the domain the app was contacting and analyzed it on VirusTotal. Ten security vendors flagged the domain as malicious or malware. After seeing this, I immediately deleted the app.

My question is: Am I being needlessly worried, or did I make the right decision by deleting the app? Please note I don’t jailbreak my iPhone.

For reference, I’ve linked the app, Norton’s Safe Web analysis, and VirusTotal’s analysis below.

Lock Launcher - Screen Widgets: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lock-launcher-screen-widgets/id1636719674

Norton Safe Web Analysis: https://safeweb.norton.com/report?url=pa.apispeedy.com

VirusTotal Analysis: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/defa956ff9f4017b1f5978f9accd9ea9668d68ae5ccead98d53df2c5416f9169?nocache=1

2

Seems safe, probably just horribly maintained as it’s a broken url with a dead certificate.

3

As another user already mentioned it’s most likely safe. For the being overly worried part. It’s actually a good thing as in this field only paranoia can help you find out if you had malware that bypassed security solutions. There have been many cases with certain friends or clients where I had to manually look for malware to find it after they had their accounts stolen with their antiviruses showing clean. Great awareness on that part :+1:

4

Thank you for letting me know!

5

Thank you so much! The other user’s response and yours help me grow in my knowledge of personal cybersecurity which is why I like this subreddit a lot. Many countries focus on teaching students about personal finance and while I believe that is very important I wish they would put equal emphasis on personal cybersecurity since we live in a digital age.