{"id":3431,"date":"2016-11-16T08:26:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T16:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/?p=3431"},"modified":"2021-08-06T10:00:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T17:00:23","slug":"120000-us-smartphones-found-send-private-data-back-china-millions-chinese-presumably-still-affected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/120000-us-smartphones-found-send-private-data-back-china-millions-chinese-presumably-still-affected\/","title":{"rendered":"120,000 US smartphones found to send private data back to China; millions of Chinese presumably still affected"},"content":{"rendered":"

A secret backdoor in some Android smartphones\u00a0has been discovered by Kryptowire, an American security firm. Kryptowire announced their findings in a press release<\/a> early Tuesday morning. The backdoor was made by Shanghainese company AdUps at the behest of an unnamed Chinese phone manufacturer. The backdoor is located in the smartphone\u2019s firmware and was discovered on phones sold by American phone manufacturer BLU Products. BLU Products confirmed that 120,000 of their phones were affected. AdUps\u2019 software is used on 700 million phones around the world, and it is still unclear if all of them are affected.<\/p>\n

All this exists because a still unnamed Chinese manufacturer wanted the ability to receive private information on device users. Adups claims that the Chinese manufacturer was doing so in order to provide better customer support. Realistically, this is more likely an instance of a domestic mass surveillance program that accidentally spilled overseas. China has been cracking down on open internet use for some time, and has recently passed new cybersecurity laws<\/a> that force ISPs to store IP address logs for 6 months at least.<\/p>\n

Smartphones from BLU Products sent private information to China<\/h2>\n

If you used any of these phones, the Chinese government has likely seen your text messages. According to BLU Products<\/a>, the list of affected American phones are as follows:<\/p>\n