Slashdot Mirror
Some Low-Cost Android Phones Shipped With Malware Built In (techcrunch.com)
More than 100 different low-cost Android models from manufacturers such as ZTE, Archos, and myPhone ship with malware pre-installed, researchers at Avast Threat Labs reported on Thursday. Users in more than 90 countries, including the U.S., are affected by this, the researchers said. From a report: The malware, called called Cosiloon, overlays advertisements over the operating system in order to promote apps or even trick users into downloading apps. The app consists of a dropper and a payload. "The dropper is a small application with no obfuscation, located on the /system partition of affected devices. The app is completely passive, only visible to the user in the list of system applications under 'settings.' We have seen the dropper with two different names, 'CrashService' and 'ImeMess,'" wrote Avast.
The dropper then connects with a website to grab the payloads that the hackers wish to install on the phone. "The XML manifest contains information about what to download, which services to start and contains a whitelist programmed to potentially exclude specific countries and devices from infection. However, we've never seen the country whitelist used, and just a few devices were whitelisted in early versions. Currently, no countries or devices are whitelisted. The entire Cosiloon URL is hardcoded in the APK."
The dropper then connects with a website to grab the payloads that the hackers wish to install on the phone. "The XML manifest contains information about what to download, which services to start and contains a whitelist programmed to potentially exclude specific countries and devices from infection. However, we've never seen the country whitelist used, and just a few devices were whitelisted in early versions. Currently, no countries or devices are whitelisted. The entire Cosiloon URL is hardcoded in the APK."
Abracadabra. I define iTunes as Malware, 100% of iPhones ship with malware.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Say what you will about Apple and their high prices, closed ecosystem, etc. More and more these days, I find that they are looking out for the end user -- not taking their data off the phone, protecting against malware / abusive apps (the ones that mine our data, suck up your bandwidth, etc), pushing back against law enforcement overreach, and actually have teams whose responsibility it is to keep tabs on all this.
You may get some cheap Android phone that works, but what do you give up? You don't even know till it's too late.
Google.
Far more evil than any malware.
...called called...
In that case, your information goes to advertisors instead of hackers. Not sure who I would trust more.The person who wants your eyeballs, to sell you stuff and your information, to make money, or the hacker? Ha! (...who also wants to sell your information and make money.)
"The quality of life is determined by its activites."--Aristotle
I just bought a big box of recertified ZTE Trek 2s to give to my friends' kids. These are 8" tablets meant to be sold as AT&T phones, originally. Inspecting the software load via ADB does not reveal the software in question and scans from Lookout, Avast and BitDefender all come up perfectly clean.
I can absolutely believe some crappy Android devices have Malware on them but even with poorly regarded ZTE, it does not appear to be an issue with all devices. Since I don't see any signs of the malware wrapper, I think my biggest issue with this particular device is the carrier-mandated Facebook installation.r
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
without root, you can pull applications out with the adb toolkit
Cheap storage VM.
I just don't put sensitive information on my phone. You're still getting tracked you know, just not by google (unless you run their apps, which honestly most do).
Also Apple talks big, but they'll comply with any subpoena they get. Androids have the same levels of encryption on $200 phones. Yeah, if you go _really_ cheap you get corners cut like this, but you don't have to spend $800 (what my kid's iPhone 8 cost) just to get a modicum of security....
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
What is the origin of the affected devices? I never heard of myPhone but Archos and ZTE are long established companies who have established reputations by offering products with, respectively, excellent multimedia capability and relatively high end specs at relatively modest price. They don't seem like the kind of no-name companies or desperate rebranding enterprisesd who would deliberately play the malware/gouging the customer game. I haven't owned an Archos phone but I did own several of their older Android devices dedicated to video and audio playback and they definitely did not load up their custom Android versions with bloatware, scamware, adware etc. In fact they did some great stuff that Google was very bad at doing at the time (think back to Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread era) such as really slick smb and upnp browsing and playback integration into their custom file browser and multimedia apps, support for streaming flac, ogg vorbis and so on.
I just find it hard to believe that they would risk a niche position and a decent reputation like this. Absolutely anywhere in the supply chain from the factory to the retail outlet could be the weak link, it is not necessarily the brand name/designer/enterprise who commissioned the goods.
Inspecting the software load via ADB does not reveal the software in question
How does this prove anything if the device malware got root?
ADB is just talking to a service on the phone (that happens to be available over USB) which is serviced by software. If Malware achieved root access and can modify any software on the device, it could easily modify whatever bits are handling ADB to conveniently remove any package from the listing sent out.
If you think this is paranoid, read about the state of the art in Windows malware. Many will modify the kernel hooks that list files/processes/sockets/resources to remove themselves from those interfaces.
manufacturers such as ZTE, Archos, and myPhone
The Chinese city of Shenzhen is for all practical purposes one giant factory with different company names over different loading dock doors. But it's all the same conglomerate inside.
Crap, now they're going to have to give Trump another $500 million bribe.
I just shat myself with surprise.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Sure, and you can avoid car accidents by never driving a car.
Every technology comes with risks. For most of us, the benefits of smartphones far outweigh the risks of buying a smartphone that happens to be pre-installed with malware.
I am in awe of just how stupid the ZTE leadership is. It's like they're having a "Hey Blackberry! Hold my beer!" moment.
Up until recently, I was basically ambivalent about ZTE. Based on the recent news I'm seeing, I now won't touch them with a 10 foot pole even if their devices were readily available.