Samsung's mobile app send data on china, but the truth is not as well as you think

There's an app preinstalled on Samsung Galaxy phones, partnering with a Chinese security company to "hunt" junk files.

On January 6, a post appeared on Reddit's largest Android forum with an "alarm" news: "Chinese spyware is pre-installed on all Samsung phones"!

"I know the title of the article is a bit sensitive, but no words can describe the situation better than that," the article author admitted.

The problem lies with a utility included in Samsung's Device Care app, a mandatory feature that comes pre-installed on every version of Android operating system modified by Samsung and therefore cannot be removed. Using packet analysis tools on a Galaxy S10 phone, the author discovered some strange Internet traffic coming out of the Device Care app's storage scanning feature. parses junk files that can be deleted to free memory).

This memory scanning utility then sends data back to the domain names originating from China. And since memory scanning software generally needs access to every file on your device, these sent data may include ... anything that belongs to you.

 
Samsung's mobile app sends data back to China, but the truth is not as scary as you think On January 6, a post appeared on Reddit's largest Android forum with a news article

Shortly thereafter, an explanation was given below, but it still could not reassure everyone. Accordingly, the memory scanning tool is built on the basis of cooperation between Samsung and Qihoo 360, a Chinese security company that has "stormed" several times because of compliance with the censorship requirements of the Chinese government. . But it is still unclear what data was sent back to Qihoo and why they did so, leaving Reddit users in doubt. And since the application is installed dead on Samsung's modified Android operating system, there is no way for users to remove it.

According to Samsung representatives, this issue is nothing to worry about. The company said that the data sent back to Qihoo is just general information to help optimize device memory - such as operating system version, phone model, device memory capacity, and some other similar data. Qihoo's main contribution to this tool is a reference library to help detect junk files, but this library is stored locally on the user's device. Qihoo has never received any data that could help identify a specific file on a user's computer.
 
"Samsung takes user data protection very seriously, and we design our products with a foundation that values ​​privacy and security first. scan and remove junk files, completely managed by Samsung device care software solutions, "a Samsung representative told The Verge reporter as above.

However, the above information is also a reminder of the constant "fear of harm" surrounding Chinese technology companies, along with greater concerns for antivirus software companies around the world. , similar to the scandal of Russian security company Kaspersky Labs in 2017. In the context of concerns about Huawei and Chinese technology companies culminating in the US, the cooperation between Samsung and Qihoo may cause generate some public opinion flows; That is understandable. And although Samsung has given an official explanation, many people remain skeptical on / r / Android of the Reddit forum.