Malware found pre-installed on dozens of different Android devices by David Bisson.
From the post:
Malware in the form of info-stealers, rough ad networks, and even ransomware came pre-installed on more than three dozen different models of Android devices.
Researchers with Check Point spotted the malware on 38 Android devices owned by a telecommunications company and a multinational technology company.
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See David’s post for the details but it raises the intriguing opportunity to supply government and corporate offices with equipment with malware pre-installed.
No more general or targeted phishing schemes, difficult attempts to breach physical security and/or to avoid anti-virus or security programs.
The you leak – we print model of the news media makes it unlikely news organizations will want to get their skirts dirty pre-installing malware on hardware.
News organizations consider themselves “ethical” in publishing stolen information but are unwilling to steal it themselves, because stealing is “unethical.”
There’s some nuance in there I am missing, perhaps that being proven to have stolen carries a prison sentence in most places. Odd how ethics correspond to self-interest isn’t it?
If you are interested in the number of opportunities for malware on computers in 2017, check out Computers Sold This Year. It reports as of today over 41 million computers sold this year alone.
News organizations don’t have the skills to create a malware network but if information were treated as having value, separate from the means of its acquisition, a viable market would not be far behind.