Exchanges ordered to pull Chinese smartphones over security risks

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The three military exchange services pulled all smartphones made by Chinese electronics manufacturers Huawei and ZTE from stores around the world and banned their sale because of the security risks the devices pose, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The Defense Department’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness issued a ban of “all Huawei and ZTE cellphones, personal mobile internet modems and related products from locations worldwide,” DOD spokesman Maj. Dave Eastburn said an email to Stars and Stripes.

Link to source (Stars and Stripes)

So, it is understood by many here that your being spied on through your phone any given moment.

But this takes it to a new level, as who knows what is programmed into these phones or any phones.

I think it prudent we limit what is captured and exposed to foreign governments.

I'm still using an old flip-top.
The way so many people are mesmerized and addicted to their modern devices is more than a little creepy to me.

a reply to: skunkape23

I honestly use mine like a multi-tool for a lot of other things. None of which is social media related.

Some great tools tho, especially for troubleshooting wifi and ssh terminal stuff around the office.

Yeah best to only be spied on by your own government.

originally posted by: Cygnis
a reply to: skunkape23

I honestly use mine like a multi-tool for a lot of other things. None of which is social media related.

Some great tools tho, especially for troubleshooting wifi and ssh terminal stuff around the office.

So this site is social media.

Even if you don't post on your phone, Im sure you access the same email on your phone as you do with your other device. Using same IP, location, etc. They see it all.

because only uncle sam can spy on americans so be good citizens go buy your crapple phones now and dont forget to install the nsa approved farcebook apps .

originally posted by: Rosinitiate

originally posted by: Cygnis
a reply to: skunkape23

I honestly use mine like a multi-tool for a lot of other things. None of which is social media related.

Some great tools tho, especially for troubleshooting wifi and ssh terminal stuff around the office.

So this site is social media.

Even if you don't post on your phone, Im sure you access the same email on your phone as you do with your other device. Using same IP, location, etc. They see it all.

Nah. Each uses it's own connection and has it's own vpn and such to different places..

NO sense in being an easy target..

originally posted by: VengefulGhost
because only uncle sam can spy on americans so be good citizens go buy your crapple phones now and dont forget to install the nsa approved farcebook apps .

Why waste the storage space on facebook?

Disable.remove is the best policy there.

Multiple smart phone security analytic firms confirmed that both Huawei and ZTE phones powered by Android are sending data back to multiple Chinese military servers located in several locations inside China. The problem is at the chip firmware level which is not easily fixed. If one removes the offending OS files sending the data they are reinstalled without user notification. If I recall Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo also do the same.

There was news a while ago that US intelligence wanted a back door to the iPhone. I think the request was rejected by Apple(?)

I would not be surprised if something like this happens w American designed phones as well. How about administrators for Apple - they are in God Mode and can view anybodies personal data in “The Cloud”, I suspect.

a reply to: Cygnis

Only Zuckerberg is allowed to spy on you and take all of your info. Silly Chinese.

originally posted by: Cygnis

originally posted by: VengefulGhost
because only uncle sam can spy on americans so be good citizens go buy your crapple phones now and dont forget to install the nsa approved farcebook apps .

Why waste the storage space on facebook?

Disable.remove is the best policy there.

That is not an easy thing to do, unless you find the right way to remove the FB stuff- as they have parts of their apps in the system end of the OS as well. I've been using BK Disabler on mine, because besides the whole privacy thing, the app sucks the life out of your battery and memory as well. On my Samsung, I had to go thru and disable things like the VR because FB's app is inexplicably tied into it!

ZTE is long known to come rooted with spyware. Im not sure this is shocking other than its just happening.

a reply to: Cygnis

Nah. Each uses it's own connection and has it's own vpn and such to different places..

That does not matter, if you visit the same places with both devices and probably credentials (logins). Logins not needed though.

The second you turn on your phone on your premises or wherever your ISP line is registered to...there is a vector of attack. Have you ever enabled WLAN on your phone at home, even without using direct internet? -> oops.

"easy target" is relative to the one who would be targeting you, just saying.

[snipped]

Why not just ban all phones together and let your own gov make your phones? Germany. Easily infiltrated. Since WW1 & WW2.

Anyways, this is a great sign of free market dying along with small businesses. Oh when WW3 starts, bomb the crop fields also so even restaurants can't survive either.

a reply to: makemap

You do realize that it has nothing to do with the german government? It was the U.S. DoD that issued this, in Germany, for their US personal.

That´s about everything this has to do with Germany.

For those who have no clue what I´m talking about

HLR checking, sometimes called HLR query or HLR Lookup, provides a direct network level check against any GSM mobile number. The check can provide detailed information such as the original network a mobile number was assigned, if the number has been ported to a different network, which ported network it has moved to, if the mobile has been turned on recently and what country the mobile was last used. All checks are non-invasive and remotely performed - this means the user of the mobile does not see anything on their phone.

From that you can get the basestation´s ID (cell-tower "BT") and from there you can lookup a map where the cell-tower is located. Now If there would be a trick (there is) to make your phone loose connection to the BT so it will book into another near by BT, and you do that again you can basically triangulate any person with simple math on your calculator, some info about the BTs (that you can get no problems) and each signal strength.

That´s basically what the police does, just that they only have to make a call.

a reply to: nOraKat

What American cell phones? Everything is made and assembled overseas. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese spyware isn't running in the Iphones as well.

a reply to: ntech

A couple of years ago there was this "issue" where ICs manufactured in china had some sort of backdoor added / the layout altered slightly. I think it was harddrives that were affected, governmental ones even.

Edit:
www.cnet.com...

It was FPGAs and it was never proofen that the backdoor was injected into the design in china. But it was there.

a reply to: verschickter

Hard drives have always been suspect since the mid 90's as far as I was aware.
At least those of us who worked with systems on a daily basis.

The idea of buying a 100gb drive and only being able to use 86gb due to "reserved" and such areas was always highly suspicious and the lame excuse of 'caching and error correcting clusters' never seemed to satisfy.

FPGAs, fun stuff, but not surprised. Lenovo is another one that is a no-no for high-security companies and jobs.