Cybersecurity firm, Malwarebytes says it has found pre-installed Chinese malware on some U.S. government-subsidized phones. The phones are offered to low-income families at significant discounts under the FCC’s Lifeline Assistance program that was first introduced three decades ago.
In particular, Malwarebytes has investigated an Android-based model dubbed the UMX U686CL that is being sold by Assurance Wireless, a subsidiary of Virgin Mobile. The phone is manufactured by a China-based company and is priced at $35 which also includes free calls, texts, and data.
The report claims the UMX U686CL came infested with two malware apps. One called Wireless Update was armed with unrestricted privileges and capable of installing apps in the background without any user consent. Being a system-level app, Malwarebytes says it is not possible to uninstall Wireless Update as it could adversely affect the rest of the phone’s functions.
Further, Malwarebytes discovered that Wireless Update was programmed under the same name as Adups, a Chinese company that has been caught in the past “collecting user data, creating backdoors for mobile devices and developing auto-installers.”
Adups was responsible for the massive 2016 Android breach which impacted over 700 million phones and prompted probes from Google as well as the Department of Homeland Security.
The second malware was deeply integrated within the Settings app which means removing it could render the entire phone inoperative. It housed a trojan called Hidden Ads that is configured to display ads even when you’re in other apps. Hidden Ads’ source code was riddled with encrypted Chinese characters, because of which Malwarebytes says it couldn’t pinpoint its exact purpose.
“As I have highlighted in this blog and blogs past, pre-installed malware continues to be a scourge for users of mobile devices. But now that there’s a mobile device available for purchase through a U.S. government-funded program, this henceforth raises (or lowers, however you view it) the bar on bad behavior by app development companies,” said Nathan Collier, Senior Malware Intelligence Analyst at Malwarebytes in a blog post.
Sprint has denied the allegations and in an email response, told Digital Trends that the company is “aware of this issue and in touch with the device manufacturer Unimax to understand the root cause, however, after our initial testing we do not believe the applications described in the media are malware.”
FCC has declined to comment directly on the report and in a statement sent to Digital Trends over email added that “the FCC is not the “provider” of the service. Through the Lifeline program, the FCC funds voice and broadband service to qualifying Lifeline consumers but we do not provide the service ourselves. Lifeline funds do not support the cost of the handset or any other end-user device.”
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.