Spying Software Pre-installed on Chinese Star N9500 Smartphone

The Chinese-made Generic Star N9500 smartphone is being shipped with pre-installed spying software that can access nearly all data on the phone, found researchers at German security company G Data.
Spying Software Pre-installed on Chinese Star N9500 Smartphone
A Generic Star N9500 is analyzed by researchers in a photo from German security company G Data. The company found spying software pre-installed on the Chinese-made smartphone. (G Data)
Joshua Philipp
6/17/2014
Updated:
6/17/2014

Anyone looking for a cheap smartphone may get more than they bargained for. German security company G Data found that Chinese smartphones are being shipped with pre-installed spying software.

The Generic Star N9500 has a 5-inch screen, dual cameras, and a quad core processor. It also comes with the Uupay.D spyware program, pre-installed, which steals data from the phone and relays it back to a server in China.

“The possibilities with this spy program are almost limitless,” said Christian Geschkat, G Data’s product manager for mobile solutions, in a blog post.

With the spying software, the phone can retrieve your personal data, listen to your phone calls, get your online banking data, read your emails and text messages, and China’s hackers can remotely control your camera and microphone.

The smartphone is manufactured in China and sold on Amazon and eBay for around $159.99.

Aside from being a major invasion of privacy, the data gathered on the phone can be used by criminals for bank fraud, credit card fraud, and online scams.

The spying software is disguised as a Google Play service that runs in the background without the user’s knowledge. It can also quietly install new software without the user’s knowledge.

Geschkat noted they began researching the phone after one of their customers said it sprang an alarm on a computer security program.

They found the Uupay.D spying program in the phone’s firmware, the fundamental layer of code that interacts with the hardware. The Google Play icon it poses as cannot be disabled, nor can it be removed.

Geschkat said that the recipients of the stolen data, and how the data is used, are still unknowns.

Joshua Philipp is an award-winning investigative reporter with The Epoch Times and host of EpochTV's "Crossroads" program. He is a recognized expert on unrestricted warfare, asymmetrical hybrid warfare, subversion, and historical perspectives on today’s issues. His 10-plus years of research and investigations on the Chinese Communist Party, subversion, and related topics give him unique insight into the global threat and political landscape.
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