from Seattle Times, (6/17/14)
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.” he Associated Press found the phone for sale on several major retail websites, offered by an array of companies listed in Shenzhen, in southern China. It could not immediately find a reference to the phone’s manufacturer. More
One of the things that G Data discovered was Android.Trojan.Uupay.D trojan masquerading as the “Google Play Store”! This may be the Chinese governments attempts to spy on its own people which is what most governments are trying to do lately each for their own interests.
Hopefully, individuals will get smarter about protecting their own privacy and stay informed about cyber security.