By analyzing over 82,000 pre-installed apps, researchers have found a prevalence of third-party data collection.
It was only a month ago that pre-installed malware was discovered on Android-based Alcatel smartphones, and other such security flaws are no stranger to apps found on Google’s own Play Store.
But a recent study analyzing pre-installed Android software has found that many vendors that provide their own version of the open-source operating system abuse the platform in order to release products with integrated data collecting services.
The analysis was conducted by IMDEA Networks Institute, Universidad Carlos II de Madrid, Stony Brooks University and ICSI, and covered more than 200 device manufacturers, 1,700 devices, and 82,000 pre-installed apps.
This study concluded that, whether through deliberate misuse or poor practices, companies creating their own Android-based firmware for smartphones had a tendency to enable third-party access to user data in its software and, furthermore, hide such activity from the user.
