Recently, it has been discovered that some budget U.S. Android smartphones are involved in a serious and potentially frightening dilemma about its security vulnerability. It's been reported that these budget U.S Android smartphones are secretly sending text messages, call log data to China every 72 hours.
It was unclear on how the data was being used, though some security experts feared it could have been accessible by the government of China to collect intelligence on US mobile users. The only US Android phones publicly known to be affected were entry-tier models made by device manufacturer BLU Products.
"It's transmitting their owners' personal data to a computer server in China owned by Shanghai Adups Technology Co., which supplies software to mobile device makers", Fox News added.
In a report submitted by PR News Wire, Kryptowire explained the details of its code and network analysis of the data-harvesting firmware. It states that:
These devices actively transmitted user and device information including the full-body of text messages, contact lists, call history with full telephone numbers, unique device identifiers including the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The firmware that shipped with the mobile devices and subsequent updates allowed for the remote installation of applications without the users' consent and, in some versions of the software, the transmission of fine-grained device location information.
"However, even though Adups has disabled the spyware, the company has the ability to remotely switch it back on at any time in the future", Android WonderHowTo added.
Indeed this only boils to one question. Would you choose price over quality? Stay tuned for more Gamenguide update.