Secret Backdoor in Some US Phones Sent Data To China

IvoShoen · Nov 15, 2016

Security contractors have warned that many Android smartphones ship with preinstalled software that has a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; here's the press release.) The New York Times reported Tuesday that "the American authorities say it is not clear whether this represents secretive data mining for advertising purposes or a Chinese government effort to collect intelligence." From the report:

International customers and users of disposable or prepaid phones are the people most affected by the software. But the scope is unclear. The Chinese company that wrote the software, Shanghai Adups Technology Company, says its code runs on more than 700 million phones, cars and other smart devices. One American phone manufacturer, BLU Products, said that 120,000 of its phones had been affected and that it had updated the software to eliminate the feature. Kryptowire, the security firm that discovered the vulnerability, said the Adups software transmitted the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information and other data to a Chinese server. The code comes preinstalled on phones and the surveillance is not disclosed to users, said Tom Karygiannis, a vice president of Kryptowire, which is based in Fairfax, Va. "Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't have known about it," he said.
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http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...out-user-consent-or-disclosure-300362844.html

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/china-phones-software-security.html

stapp · Aug 1, 2017

Smartphone manufacturer BLU is in hot water once again, as security researchers discovered spyware on its devices for the second time, this, in turn, triggering a ban on all models from Amazon.
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/amaz...rtphones-due-to-spyware-concerns-517237.shtml

Dermot7 · Aug 7, 2017

BLU confirmed during the weekend that all its Android smartphones can be purchased from Amazon once again, as the spyware alert proved to be just a false alarm and all its devices are completely clean.
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/no-s...ones-entirely-clean-sales-resume-517305.shtml

ronjor · Apr 30, 2018

Phone maker settles charges it let partner collect customers’ text messages

Dan Goodin - 4/30/2018, 6:50 PM
BLU phones sent a massive amount of data to firmware and data-mining provider.
Under a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission announced Monday, BLU agreed to implement a "comprehensive data-security program" to prevent similar privacy leaks in the future.
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EASTER · Apr 30, 2018

Sure is good and heartwarming to finally see firms-groups-US Agency going all out to bring attention right back to the origins of distributors who long have ignored ensuring their wares are free from exactly that type of data flow going where it has no business being in the first place and making corrective measures.

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Secret Backdoor in Some US Phones Sent Data To China

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