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Android Security China Encryption Operating Systems Privacy Software News Technology

Barnes & Noble's Latest Tablet Is Running Spyware From Shanghai (linuxjournal.com) 63

Posted by BeauHD from the buyer-beware dept.
Long-time Slashdot reader emil writes about how ADUPS, an Android "firmware provisioning" company specializing in both big data collection of Android usage and hostile app installation and/or firmware control, has been found pre-loaded on Barnes and Noble's new $50 tablet: ADUPS was recently responsible for data theft on BLU phones and an unsafe version of the ADUPS agent is pre-loaded on the Barnes and Noble BNTV450. ADUPS' press releases claim that Version 5.5 of their agent is safe, but the BNTV450 is running 5.2. The agent is capable of extracting contacts, listing installed apps, and installing new apps with elevated privilege. Azzedine Benameur, director of research at Kryptowire, claims that "owners can expect zero privacy or control while using it."
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Barnes & Noble's Latest Tablet Is Running Spyware From Shanghai More

Barnes & Noble's Latest Tablet Is Running Spyware From Shanghai

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  • Big Brother... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    is watching. And he's not nice...

  • in other words... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "owners can expect zero privacy or control while using it."

    In other words, much like every "web app" ever. Gmail. Twitter. Instagram. Etc.

    The people have spoken. They're cool with having zero privacy or control. That ship fucking SAILED.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's not that people are 'cool with it'.

      Much like climate change and illegal government spying, the reason that people don't seem to mind is that only about 0.00001% of users actually experience something they perceive as harmful as a result of pre-installed spyware. It's hard to get people exited about something that they don't perceive as affecting them.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by CaptainDork ( 3678879 )

        This.

        I'm a retired IT guy and, like many of you, I can perform miracles of a semi-religious nature with computing platforms.

        I have to provide permission for my computer to flip a bit.

        Even so, I know full well that every fucking thing I do is recorded and used without my permission.

        When laypersons ask me, "What can be done?"

        I say, "Nothing."

        I'm not worried about it, though because it actually works both ways.

        My motto is:

        "For every motherfucker out there with a computer, there's another motherfucker out there

      • I guess I just missed the exit...
  • has anyone tried CyanogenMod on it? Would any of these work: https://download.cyanogenmod.org [cyanogenmod.org] ?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by koick ( 770435 )
      Got one of these for my mom (they kick ass compared to Amazon's Fire), but now potentially regretting it. Been keeping an eye out for rooting this bad boy and installing CM, but google searches for "root BNTV450" or "cyanogenmod BNTV450", come up with nothing.

    • has anyone tried CyanogenMod on it?

      I haven't. One of the reasons I have stayed away from cyanogen and rooting until now is that when I have looked at what I can find about this subject, I can't shake off the feeling that this is mostly a bunch of script kiddies, who try to sound like they are cool and with it, but are actually rather dim - Beavis and Butthead trying to get you to blindly download and install something in the hope that it won't brick the device you have paid actual money for. My last, cheap phone still cost something like $60

      • Re: erase and cyanogen, or? (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        A $600 phone is not a cheap phone.

        • A $600 phone is not a cheap phone.

          I second this: a "cheap phone" don't surpasses the US$100 barrier...

        • Cheap comes in all sizes, I suppose. When you are old enough that your children have left to live their own lives, and you look back at nearly 30 years of experience with development, you begin to notice that you always seem to have money left over every month, and after a while you look differently at certain things like the price of a phone. For what I've got for my money, I think $600 was cheap - also considering that I don't buy a new one every few years. There are certainly phones out there that are fa

      • Re: erase and cyanogen, or? (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Yeah, nobody needs you to try CM, lol. Were you expecting someone to argue with you?

      • Having experienced bricking a cheap $35 router trying to build a pirate box in the early days of its development, I completely understand what you are saying. I got stuck halfway through the process with no (documented) options for moving forward. The documentation for that project was even better than what I see with the "remake your phone" crowd. It's especially worse when they have you downloading random programs/utilities with little to no explanation as to what is in them and what they do.
        I will not

  • When products like these come out, the real story will be the ones that DON'T have crap like this installed.

  • Does that mean I can get a discount on one? I don't care if China reads my books.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You've already got a discount on one, that's why it costs $50.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Can I get a discount too? I don't care if China has access to my financial info and personal info. Also, I'm fine with them compromising family and friends and all the other people in my contact list. They can have my texts and emails too. Small price to pay!

  • In other news (Score:4, Funny)

    by LightningBolt! ( 664763 ) <lightningboltlig ... NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @10:09PM (#53527469) Homepage

    Barnes & Noble is still trying to sell tablets.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Agripa ( 139780 )

      Barnes & Noble is still trying to sell tablets.

      It sounds more like they are selling (out) their customers.

  • Stronger protections needed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by melting_clock ( 659274 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @11:58PM (#53527823)

    Spyware and adware were once universally considered to be malware but there appears to be some exceptions now... Many ad supported mobile apps are known to leak personal data to Ad networks with no protections on how that data or sold. This should be considered spyware but many people are willing to accept it. While the subject of this article is a more extreme example of the spectrum of spyware, it isn't clear where people draw the line. Without strong legal protections, consumers are at the mercy of device manufacturers that are driven by profit, with little interest in looking after their customers privacy. Manufacturers might be embarrassed when the a caught out with poor security practises or when they are spying on users but that is a pretty weak form of protection.

    A scary escalation is the move of this sort of software from the mobile device to traditional computing platforms (laptop and desktop). Windows 10 telemetry could, and should, be considered to be spyware. After MS started displaying ads it became adware as well.

    When it is law enforcement or security agencies spying on the public there is much more of a reaction than when a company does it.

    • When it is law enforcement or security agencies spying on the public there is much more of a reaction than when a company does it.

      This is, increasingly, a distinction without a difference.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by green1 ( 322787 )

        There is a difference. One has the authority to throw me in jail, or worse take me somewhere offshore and torture me. The other might show me more ads.

        I don't want either one spying on me, but there's certainly an order of preference here!

  • Is that you, Bill? We all know you'd love to be in on something like this...

  • Re: (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    And that's why I 've henceforth committed to only buying Nexus or Google-branded devices. My Lenovo tab also has a user experience and a lenovo id process I don't know what they do (I mean, besides reducing battery life on standby by 30%). Never again.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I'll take one if the company is profitable. Hell, maybe even if it's not -- I could use the tax write-off.

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