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sonyxperiageek

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#205563 17-Nov-2016 21:33
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Just an interesting article in the NZ Herald today reporting the New York Times found Android phones were transmitting data to China every 72 hours or so... Anybody worried?





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Technofreak
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  #1673182 17-Nov-2016 21:41
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Isn't it only a few brands out of China?





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sonyxperiageek

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  #1673184 17-Nov-2016 21:43
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Yes, mainly the cheaper phones too but I heard Huawei might have some phones in there too.





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gzt

gzt
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  #1673187 17-Nov-2016 21:46
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Only one manufacturer confirmed affected. Some American company called BLU.



Rikkitic
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  #1673191 17-Nov-2016 21:53
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Jeez that's mine! The Chinese are going to know about my bad taste in cartoons.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


sonyxperiageek

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  #1673192 17-Nov-2016 21:54
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Rikkitic:

 

Jeez that's mine! The Chinese are going to know about my bad taste in cartoons.

 

 

 

 

First time I've heard that joke today! tongue-out





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sonyxperiageek

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  #1673195 17-Nov-2016 21:56
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gzt: Only one manufacturer confirmed affected. Some American company called BLU.

 

Ah right. There was some herald reporter interviewing a computer repair person (ironically from China) that I saw on Facebook, who seemed to think it was on 50% of our phones.





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jonb
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  #1673196 17-Nov-2016 21:58
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Not bothered - they're all sending data collection back to the chocolate factory (google)  all the time anyway.


 
 
 

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1101
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  #1673367 18-Nov-2016 09:27
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https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/11/chinese-iot-firm-siphoned-text-messages-call-records/

 

 

 

"At the center of the spyware controversy is software made by Shanghai ADUPS Technology, a Chinese firm whose product touts the ability to wirelessly update software installed on mobile and and IoT devices. The ADUPS technology is typically bundled with smart phones made by dozens of global wireless firms including ZTE, BLU and Huawei, and sold at popular consumer destinations like Amazon and BestBuy. Often retailing for between $50 and $100, the sleek and powerful devices sell so cheaply because they also require the user to accept on-screen advertisements."

 

"Researchers at Fairfax, Va.-based security firm Kryptowire say the ADUPS software gives the company near-total control over the devices that it runs on, and that they have proof ADUPS has abused that control to siphon personal data from countless consumers."

 

 


webwat
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  #1673490 18-Nov-2016 11:23
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1101:

 

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/11/chinese-iot-firm-siphoned-text-messages-call-records/

 

 

 

"At the center of the spyware controversy is software made by Shanghai ADUPS Technology, a Chinese firm whose product touts the ability to wirelessly update software installed on mobile and and IoT devices. The ADUPS technology is typically bundled with smart phones made by dozens of global wireless firms including ZTE, BLU and Huawei, and sold at popular consumer destinations like Amazon and BestBuy. Often retailing for between $50 and $100, the sleek and powerful devices sell so cheaply because they also require the user to accept on-screen advertisements."

 

"Researchers at Fairfax, Va.-based security firm Kryptowire say the ADUPS software gives the company near-total control over the devices that it runs on, and that they have proof ADUPS has abused that control to siphon personal data from countless consumers."

 

 

Huawei apparently denied it (suprise suprpise), BLU is updating all software, and Google have demanded that adups remove the spyware functions from all playstore-enabled devices. I still wont be buying a huawei ever!





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gzt

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  #1673510 18-Nov-2016 11:47
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As far as I am aware the only evidence so far it was used on Huawei and ZTE is that Adups website says it is a supplier to Huawei. Huawei says Adups has never been a supplier. No independent confirmation either way yet.

It's possible, but it would be extremely bad publicity if Huawei is deliberately misleading it's phone customers.

Coil
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  #1673517 18-Nov-2016 11:50
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The going joke about Huawei was that its the Chinese government. 

 

Could be worse anyway, Could have a whole cellular network built by them and use all their BNG's and BRAS's....

 

 

 

Rikkitic:

 

Jeez that's mine! The Chinese are going to know about my bad taste in cartoons.

 

 

 

 

 

Christ...

 

 


NikT
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  #1673620 18-Nov-2016 14:35
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Linux live USB + wireshark and you'll see what's going where if anyone's concerned enough to do the homework.

 

 

 

That said, everything Android is phoning home to Google anyway, and the baseband modules are black boxes with who knows what inside them, so fundamentally I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.

 

Different story if you get a knockoff with malware in userspace, or a legit device with dodgy reseller software on it mind. There's just a level of data collection you need to be comfortable with to use any smartphone or cloud service.





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