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Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

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Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#131

Post by closeparen »

codedokode wrote: post #102
e40 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a consumer I am very disappointed and feel being deceived by Google. Why Google and not the maker of the phone? They're the ones that wrote the backdoor that sent stuff to China. You're not suggesting that Google helped with that, are you?

And Google advertises Android as free, open source, linux-based OS. "open" is supposed to mean I can do whatever I want with it but in fact I cannot even access the iptables.

"Open" means the re-distributor can do whatever they want with it, as long as they pass along the source under the same license. Software licenses with strings attached like "you must let end-users access the iptables" are emphatically nonfree.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#132

Post by elorant »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #127
elorant wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jailbreak a phone and you can surely do whatever you want on it. Other than that it's not Google's fault how a manufacturer customizes the software.

If it is an Android phone with Google Play store then it is definitely Google's fault. Maybe Google should stop manufacturers from installing Android on their phones when they are doing things like this. You want me to tell you why Google won't do anything, because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more a…

because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more advertising dollars.

And why exactly is that bad?

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#133

Post by maxsilver »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #127
elorant wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jailbreak a phone and you can surely do whatever you want on it. Other than that it's not Google's fault how a manufacturer customizes the software.

If it is an Android phone with Google Play store then it is definitely Google's fault. Maybe Google should stop manufacturers from installing Android on their phones when they are doing things like this. You want me to tell you why Google won't do anything, because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more a…

> If it is an Android phone with Google Play store then it is definitely Google's fault. Maybe Google should stop manufacturers from installing Android on their phones when they are doing things like this.

If it's GMS Certified, sure.

It's possible (common even) for some shady OEMs to install Google Play Store, despite not being GMS certified. Asking them to prevent that is a lot like demanding a stop to all software piracy.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#134

Post by yolesaber »

dopamean wrote: post #99
paradite wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you buy that phone from and what brand was it? I was under the impression that US does not allow selling of Android phones from most Chinese brands due to the reasons you mentioned, and for those that all allowed, they have strict vetting procedures to prevent phones with such capabilities from reaching the US market?

Have you not heard of OnePlus?

Is OnePlus a good phone? Been wanting an Android phone but can't seem to settle on one

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#135

Post by aNoob7000 »

elorant wrote: post #132
aNoob7000 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is an Android phone with Google Play store then it is definitely Google's fault. Maybe Google should stop manufacturers from installing Android on their phones when they are doing things like this. You want me to tell you why Google won't do anything, because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more a…

because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more advertising dollars. And why exactly is that bad?

Because Google has no incentive to fix the issue.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#136

Post by jdavis703 »

hackuser wrote: post #123
codedokode wrote: post #86

I have a chinese Android phone. Instead of connecting it to the Internet I connected it to my computer over bluetooth and started monitoring the traffic it tried to send. There were attempts to connect to Google servers and chinese manufacturer's servers. The data sent to China was supposed to contain sensitive information like phone number or SIM card identifier. It also has an auto-update (read: backdoor) feature t…

> Instead of connecting it to the Internet I connected it to my computer over bluetooth and started monitoring the traffic it tried to send How did you set that up? I'd be interested in knowing how to redirect/proxy cellular connections to something local, in a way I could read and monitor the data (is it encrypted?). Based on what you say, maybe you proxied Internet connections through Bluetooth - do you have a way…

I imagine you just turn cellular off and only use Wi-Fi or LTE. A lot of these backdoors are poorly constructed and wouldn't check to see if they're on a cellular connection.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#137

Post by paradite »

YUPampessimist wrote: post #129
paradite wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems rather pessimistic. If you really don't trust any brands, what's wrong with directly buying from the tech companies instead of the manufacturers? Like Google Nexus (Pixel), Microsoft Windows Phone and iPhone. They are supposed to the industrial standards for how to do privacy correctly.

When a simple Google search reveals the exact pattern mentioned occurring again and again, not just with phones but with networking gear, laptops, TV's, IoT devices, CDs (Sony rootkit anyone?), and websites loaded to the max with trackers and secret downloads onto people's machines, it moves from pessimism to "this is just how it works." The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. You want crap free gadgets, make them…

I am okay with the skepticism you have here but is there really a reason to create two throwaway accounts just to reply to me?

Do you happen to know me in real life? I can't think of another reason for this.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#139

Post by Nrsolis »

duked wrote: post #112
Nrsolis wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey duked. I just returned from Hong Kong (on vacation) and used two BLU Advance 5.0 phones as burners for use while in-country. I take precautions whenever I travel overseas. I've got two phones here that were used during my trip there. I was wondering if you had any tips for figuring out of they were compromised or otherwise owned while I was out there.

Hi, our findings are specific to the BLU R1HD. What you can do is have man in the middle proxy for your device and look at the traffic. Funny enough we actually bought the R1HD for the same reason as you... We had a conference in Taiwan and wanted a burner and BLU looked awesome for the price ;)

That was my thinking as well.

I do INFOSEC for a living and needed to make sure I wasn't bringing back any compromised devices when I returned. So far, the two phones have remained powered down while I come up with a plan to examine them.

It would be interesting to see if they are loaded with malware out of the box or if there is something going on when they are used in country.

Re: Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say

#140

Post by c0nfused »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #135
elorant wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because Google doesn't give a crap about what manufacturers do as long as they keep installing Android on as many phones as possible and in return they get more advertising dollars. And why exactly is that bad?

Because Google has no incentive to fix the issue.

It's not their issue to fix.

Do you demand Microsoft take action because say Lenovo installs superfish?

You make Lenovo fix it instead of a tangentially related company like Microsoft.

Same thing here. It's not a Google issue.

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