The privacy trade-offs of cheap Android smartphones
The authors don't know much about cheap smartphones. I examined a cheap Android tablet's ROM dump and it had a backdoor that would allow manufacturer to install any application remotely  and an adware that would activate about 2 weeks after turning the tablet on and show ads above browser window (so that the user thinks that it is an ad from a website).<p>If the user tried to delete adware, the backdoor would reinstall it. The backdoor would not activate if the phone is in China.<p>I downloaded ROM from the link at the manufacturer's website to make sure it is really built-in into the ROM and the tablet was not infected by virus. Either manufacturer or those who made the ROM pre-installed backdoor to earn money from clicking on the ads.<p>Also on a Russian forum about smartphones I saw similar reports about other cheap models.<p>UPD: I googled around and it seems that the backdoor (named Cosiloon) has been found and described by antivirus vendors:<p>- <a href="https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=10345&lng=en" rel="nofollow">https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=10345&lng=en</a><p>- <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/cosiloon-malware-android-devices-869407/" rel="nofollow">https://www.androidauthority.com/cosiloon-malware-android-de...</a><p>- <a href="https://blog.avast.com/android-devices-ship-with-pre-installed-malware" rel="nofollow">https://blog.avast.com/android-devices-ship-with-pre-install...</a><p>When I found it, there was no information about it anywhere.