Cheap Android phone comes shipped with spyware

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 19, 2014

Trojan masquerades as Google Play app; cannot be removed.

Researchers at German security firm G Data have discovered Android smartphones that come shipped with spyware.

The phone is the N9500 from Chinese manufacturer Star, which appears to be very similar to the popular Samsung S5, but with a much lower price tag. Following reports from customers, G Data researchers decided to purchase the phone and confirmed that it contained the trojan known as Android.Trojan.Uupay.D.

This trojan masquerades as the legitimate Google Play app, making its activities invisible to the phone's user. To make matters worse, as it is part of the firmware, the app cannot be removed from the device. Intercepted data is sent to a server located in China, while the malware also prevents the installation of security updates.

Of course, there is only one sensible piece of advice regarding this phone, which is to avoid it completely. Thankfully, most web stores appear to have stopped selling it.

Another security firm, FireEye, also reported a piece of Android malware that masquerades as the Google Play app. An analysis on the company's blog explains how this malware avoids detection by storing the payload as an encrypted attachment to a seemingly benign application.

This malware also steals data and sends it off to a Chinese server. However, it is unclear whether the two threats are related. Update: G Data's Eddy Willems says he believes they are not related.

Posted on 19 June 2014 by Martijn Grooten

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.