For Your Convenience Malware Comes Pre-Installed on Your Brand New Device

Earlier this year, Check Point researchers discovered something unique in mobile malware. It found 36 Android devices from a major telecommunications company infected with malware. While this is not so odd in and of itself; users download malware to devices all the time, the devices arrived out of the box with malware installed. Even more perplexing is that the original manufacturer did not put it on those devices. So how did it get there? That is what is, to quote Alice, “curiouser and curiouser.”

After investigation, the researchers discovered that the malware was put there somewhere along the supply chain. Loki was found on six of the devices. Loki has multiple reasons for existence. It steals information about the device, installs itself, and takes over the device. It also pops up illegitimate adware to generate click through revenue for the cyberthieves. Ransomware was also present on some, and most of the malware were infostealers and rough ad networks.

What situations like this do is cause mistrust of new devices. Unfortunately, there is little to nothing you can do about this type of situation. However, you can avoid downloading malware to your mobile devices by following a few guidelines:

• Only get your applications, whether mobile or not, from trusted sources. Typically this means sticking to the official app stores for the devices. That means Google Play for Android and the Apple Store for Apple products, for example.

• Read reviews and do research before downloading apps. It’s tempting to be an early adopter for the cool products, but in this case it may be worth it to wait a bit and let others do that dirty work. If there is something wrong with the application, the reviewers will say so. Take it as a cue to let that one go.

• Ensure anti-malware software is installed on all internet-connected devices. Keep it updated. If there is an option to do auto-updates, enable that to save you from having to remember to do it.

• Pay attention to any odd behavior from the device. If it’s acting differently from normal, it may be infected. If so, you may have to do a complete restore to get rid of it.

In another similar instance, about 120,000 devices from BLUE (Bold Like Us) were found to be pre-installed with malware that sent contacts, messages, and location data from the device to China. These devices manufactured in China and sold at major retailers like Amazon and BestBuy.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell if a device we unwrap new is safe to use or not. We just have to take a leap of faith. However, just being aware that it’s possible is important. If it behaves oddly right away, ask questions. By taking preventative measures like the above you can help keep malware from getting on there after you start using it.