Down the Rabbit Hole With a BLU Phone Infection

msm1267 writes: BLU phones, marketed as affordable Android devices, have recently been pulled from Amazon and other retailers after allegations the devices were infected with spyware and posed a privacy threat to users. This is the tale of one such victim who purchased 11 devices that instantaneously began serving pop-up ads and downloading unwanted applications. The phones were analyzed and the root of the issue in this case was uncovered.

Maybe BLU should open source the SoC drivers?

[ctilsie242]

I wonder if stuff like this could be mitigated by BLU having the kernel drivers available, if not open-sourced, so people could make custom ROMs. Perhaps get LineageOS as a viable option on the devices?

That way, there would be some faith that the phones would have been shipped clean and decently secure.

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[Stormwatch]

There is not much of a revenue stream when retailers refuse to carry their shit.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[greenfruitsalad]

while they may be easy to root, there's almost no interest in them (on forum.xda-developers.com) and thus ZERO 3rd party rom support. it's sad because they're nicely priced and some of the hardware is really interesting.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[someoneOtherThanMe]

Had an Alcatel Poptouch C3. It kept getting slower and slower, to the point of needing ~1 minute from locked screen to dialing. Rebooting only helped temporarily.

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[slack_justyb]

I wonder if stuff like this could be mitigated by BLU having the kernel drivers available, if not open-sourced, so people could make custom ROMs.

Not everything that makes up all the needed bits for these devices have open sourced drivers. That's no excuses for at least releasing the open parts. However, this is actually a larger existential problem, so much so, that the maintainer of Android's Open Source Project AOSP basically quit his job and basically asked what's the f***ing point if an OS doesn't do anything on modern hardware. The Nexus 4 and 7 devices made by Google included lots of hardware that just was never going to be able to have dri

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[tlhIngan]

This is the thing about ads in apps. Those ads have to come from somewhere and you are putting a lot of trust in the person who's delivering those ads that those ads are trojans. Now you as a firmware company might also have your own ad agency (I know weird combination) as well, so basically people come to you and you design and deliver the ad. But if that's not you (more likely situation), then someone else designs the ad and sends it to the delivery network, the delivery network either sends it directly t

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[thejynxed]

Well, the interesting bit is that the two Trojans identified as being the culprits didn't use the ads and app installs for anything else but to rake in unearned cash. They themselves autoroot any device they find themselves on and then the show begins. The question is, did the Chinese firmware company intentionally use those trojans, or not. I would have to think that they did, considering their past behavior.

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[Anonymous Coward]

So, then it is MORONS all the way down... good to know

Re: Android is a cesspool

[mSparks43]

android 3 4 and 5 were pretty terrible. 6 was all about security. 7 will overtake Apple in all meaningful ways.
But lets be honest, if you know what you are doing, even the open and broken walls of android 3 could be secured to a greater level than the black box that is apple devices will ever.

oh, and

Youâ(TM)re a moron.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Gingerbread rocked.
I loved being able to mount my SD card on my computer with the USB cable.
At least in Jelly Bean I could still copy files onto my SD card using KDE Connect.
The excuses for making SD cards less usable on Android have always been lame, when the companies involved have an obvious incentive to keep you from copying files from your computer.

The problem is ADUPS

[Zombie Ryushu]

BLU Needs to stop locking their boot loaders, and start letting people LineageOS their devices. ADUPS is turning into a Meanace!

Best cheap phone option still is the no data

[deviated_prevert]

That way any crapware on the phone can be castrated. It comes down to carefully choosing the phone to make sure it is not hosed with either carrier crapware or manufacturer crAPPS.

Polaroid tried to break into the unlocked market and seems to be failing without having a secret revenue stream. Their 6 inch dual sim is a decent and super cheap phone and is as close to a stock android install as I have seen. I bought one for my wife and found it to be free from adware and garbage apps. Obviously some of the ch

Regardless not good enough

[Carrot007]

I tried a BLU device because of the price. But the quality control was horrible. The backlight was not even and often did not work. Decided to go to the next tier and got a Wiley Fox and could not be happier.

So where are the RED phones?

[Chris Mattern]

Reliable Excavation Demolition wants to know!

Blu R1 Plus

[SeriousTube]

I got a Blu R1 Plus last spring on Amazon for $160. I am very happy with it. It doesn't have any unremovable crap on it or Amazon ads. It is a very nice piece of hardware imo. I mean obviously it isn't the same quality as Nexus 6P or something. I don't know of any other $160 phones that are as good though.