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Who would buy unbranded cheap Chinese smartphones from online retailers, when we have so many other possibilities?
This question may make no sense to a vast majority of people, especially those ones looking for a bargain. Some Chinese smartphones are the real deal, while others are there on the market just to spy on you and steal your personal data.
News outlets in Europe and North America published a recent report related to a Chinese smartphones spyware deeply hidden in at least two such handset models: the Star N9500 and the Orient N9500, although the latter is just under suspicion at the moment.
Both phones are good looking, very cheap, Android – based and quite functional. So far they are available on Amazon, eBay and other online stores. The problem with them? They have such a malicious spying software, they scared even experienced security firms.
A German – based security company going by the name of G Data started an investigation after many clients complained about the phone acting weird. They bough a Star N9500 and tried to crack it down to see what was the problem with it. This is what they found:
G Data said the spyware it found on the N9500 could allow a hacker to steal personal data, place rogue calls, or turn on the phone’s camera and microphone. G Data said the stolen information was sent to a server in China.
The Chinese smartphones spyware can also steal text messages from you, so be careful when sharing personal and financial information with other people. The spyware is called Uupay.D and it is basically a portal to all your intimate information. The worst thing about the Uupay.D malicious software is that it is embedded into the phone’s firmware at the factory and it cannot be deleted.
According to tech specialists who took their time to understand why and how this spyware works and aims,
The smartphones are still on sale online and G Data’s researchers suspect their low price and high-end specifications may be offset by the reselling of personal data stolen from unsuspecting users.
Of course, this is not the only case of Chinese smartphones spyware detected by security companies. Actually, in their opinion, the market crawls with such malicious devices, all placed to ruin our lives one way or the other. Under normal circumstances, a security firm should be able to trace the phones back to the manufacturer and signal the case to the authorities. Unfortunately, the German company couldn’t identify the producer, nor learn anything about its existence and whereabouts.
