Covert downloaders found preinstalled on dozens of low-cost Android phone models

Low-cost phones surreptitiously install and reinstall unwanted apps.

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Apparently a PR nightmare, fines and lawsuits weren't enough to dissuade Lenovo from their malicious practices...

In a blog post, Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius apologized and promised that Superfish will not be included on any Lenovo PCs in the future.

And apparently, other brands of adware and other types of devices were not included in this apology.

 

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rabish12[/url]":13t1k19v]

turgidBillows[/url]":13t1k19v]Makes you wonder whether we've reached a point where manufacturing digital devices in other countries is too much of a security risk.

The problem isn't geography. There's absolutely nothing preventing this kind of crap from being pre-installed on a device produced in North America aside from the fact that it would be more expensive to make it here in the first place. The issue is a near-total lack of restrictions and oversight. No effort is made to ensure that this isn't done and there's rarely any real penalty for doing it, so of course it's going to happen.

Geography is certainly not the issue- any company may decide to scam customers, no matter where they're from. Fairly recently, it was discovered that a Florida-based phone company sold millions of devices with rootkits preinstalled. EDIT: Blu didn't know the rootkit was on there