Report: Chinese phone comes preloaded with spyware
Source: AP-Excite
By RAPHAEL SATTER and FRANK JORDANS
BERLIN (AP) A cheap brand of Chinese-made smartphones carried by major online retailers comes preinstalled with espionage software, a German security firm said Tuesday.
G Data Software said it found malicious code hidden deep in the propriety software of the Star N9500 when it ordered the handset from a website late last month. The find is the latest in a series of incidents where smartphones have appeared preloaded with malicious software.
G Data spokesman Thorsten Urbanski said his firm bought the phone after getting complaints about it from several customers. He said his team spent more than a week trying to trace the handset's maker without success.
"The manufacturer is not mentioned," he said. "Not in the phone, not in the documentation, nothing else."
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140617/eu--germany-malicious_phone-23e14a238f.html
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)I'm shocked I telly ya. Shocked!
delrem
(9,688 posts)What is meant is that we are potential victims of every sort of surveillance method, and this is one.
The economies of this are of course trans-national.
There's no need to apply a "sarcasm" flag.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)- NSA or Verizon? It's hard tell them apart without a scorecard now......
liberal N proud
(60,352 posts)NOT!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)into the country?
Obviously, we expect countries like China and Russia to violate human rights. But there is no excuse for our country and our NSA to violate the rights of Americans. No excuse.
Don't buy that phone. Why are all of our phones or at least most of them made in other countries that might want to spy on us? That is where the problem lies.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)Moliere
(285 posts)Malware's in the firmware, so it can't be deleted.
Malware prevents proper updates
Malware siphons off data and sends it to a server in china.
Did I mention it's in the firmware ? This is pretty as low level as you can get - not an add on or intercepted and patched, this was deliberate by the manufacturer or in collusion with hacker org.
Any Lenovo owners out there?
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)AOSP = Android Open Source Project https://source.android.com/
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)William769
(55,150 posts)arikara
(5,562 posts)it stinks so bad that as soon as the Mr brings some plastic gadget into the house, if it can't be returned it goes in the trash. He gets annoyed, but I can't tolerate the odor it makes me sick.
And pet food made in China. Still an issue.
Historic NY
(37,460 posts)tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)Oh, I see, it's a password, etc thing. I was thinking it was China performing espionage.
Too many 007 movies for me.
Here's the phone:
http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Star-N9500-Android-MTK6589/dp/B00C3UYRYA
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,032 posts)Thanks Amazon.
tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)woodsprite
(11,940 posts)seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Someone is trying to be cute with the name. SKYNET anyone?
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)So they can receive the blowback they so fittingly deserve.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Have them be the guy that tells teenagers to turn their phone off during the movie.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Nobel_Twaddle_III
(323 posts)delrem
(9,688 posts)I congratulate everyone involved.
quakerboy
(13,923 posts)Why bother preloading extra spyware on a smart phone? most apps come with built in spyware capability.
Twenty1first
(32 posts)OMG, so they killed your kitty with powder milk. The world is larger than you are exposed to, and china will stay with commerce with your domain, likely your neighborhood......get used to it.