Millions of mobile phones come pre-infected with malware, say researchers

[MuzzMelbourne]

Content source

https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/bh_asia_mobile_phones/

BLACK HAT ASIA Miscreants have infected millions of Androids worldwide with malicious firmware before the devices even shipped from their factories, according to Trend Micro researchers at Black Hat Asia.
This hardware is mainly cheapo Android mobile devices, though smartwatches, TVs, and other things are caught up in it.
The gadgets have their manufacturing outsourced to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). That outsourcing makes it possible for someone in the manufacturing pipeline – such as a firmware supplier – to infect products with malicious code as they ship out, the researchers said.
This has been going on for a while, we think; for example, we wrote about a similar headache in 2017. The Trend Micro folks characterized the threat today as "a growing problem for regular users and enterprises." So, consider this a reminder and a heads-up all in one.

Millions of mobile phones come pre-infected with malware

The threat is coming from inside the supply chain

www.theregister.com

I'm sorry, remind me why people prefer Android over iOS again...

 

[Trident]

Remind me why people prefer Android over iOS again

Lower price is the most important factor.

Just do 2 searches. One how many phones Samsung sold in total last year and another, how many of them were the S22 and specially the Ultra.

Then it is the customisation (the ability to put a disgraceful and disgusting handwriting-alike font).

Very few people buy Android for different reasons.

That’s not to say iOS is perfect, lately it has been far from great. Introduced features are not being adopted like devs (like the Live Activities, the ability to track orders in Apple Pay in many others) and bugs are frequent. It is still better than majority of OEM’s Android implementations though.

It is the same with Microsoft partnering OEMs like HP, Dell and others. Except for gamers very few people buy premium laptops like HP Spectre, Lenovo Yoga Y9 or Dell XPS 15. Majority of the laptops sold by these companies are around $600-1000

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Lower price is the most important factor.

This is the correct view. We forget that most of us live in so-called 'well-run' 1st world economies. But most of the world live in poorer 3rd world countries. Most cheap phones are behind several android generations and are still on 4G. Cheap phones have their place in the world where security isn't a issue for most people, they just want the phone to work and use it to browse the internet because most people in the 3rd world don't have residential internet just 4G.

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

...Lower price is the most important factor...

No doubt...

Depends how you value your time chasing 'fixes' though I guess. Usually Apple comes to me and does the job for me... on all 4 of my devices. No running around, tweaking this, that and the other thing. Has to be worth a quid or two...

 

[Trident]

Yeah, users are forced to choose (when on a budget) either between awful hardware (the sort that you tap on an icon now and the phone reacts tomorrow) or phones with bad security and acceptable hardware, that don’t get any updates (Google regularly every month patches ~40-50 security holes).
Both of these are equally as bad.

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

... most of us live in so-called 'well-run' 1st world economies. But most of the world live in poorer 3rd world countries...

True. But you can't assume that living in a first-world country automatically indicates high disposable income. Income/Price ratios are relative to a country's econmnic health. I'm sure there are lots of people in the third-world who are financially better off than me, in relative terms.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

I'm sure there are lots of people in the third-world who are financially better off than me, in relative terms.

The majority wouldn't be but your right some would be better off. Never forget how lucky most of us are by being born in "well run 1st world economies" that have the ability to support people who for whatever reason can't be a part of the economy or work or study.

In the 3rd world people have less disposable income so everything usually costs less from phone credit to phones to beer to food. People in 3rd world do like luxury goods like iPhones and iPads and designer clothes but it's a huge proportion of annual income to buy them and it's usually only bought around the holidays (Lunar New Year).

 

[Trident]

It’s all about the power of the brand.

There are also many low-cost, low-quality brands striving even in “first-world” economies, just not with phones.
The iPhone has just become a no-brainer in many places of the world. For example in the UK on appliances Beko is number one with over 25% market share (cheap and cheerful, plastic-fantastic) and in terms of clothing, H&M and other “fast fashion” brands top.

The iPhone as a brand is so powerful here that even the most stingy people are willing to open up their wallets and accept the high price tag.
The MacBook is also a no-brainer when looking for a premium laptop.

In the “third-world” countries people have options as well, like 36 instalments. It’s just in these countries the iPhone as a brand is not strong at all. People there adore (will repeat myself, cheep and cheerful) phones like Xiaomi.

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

...like 36 instalments...

Is there any other way? My accountant Grandfather always said..."use other peoples(??... senior's moment) money on luxuries and save your own for asset building..."

 

[tahashah03]

@MuzzMelbourne
Was there a research paper or a more detailed report from the Researchers? I'm looking to dive deeper in to this.