Most hi-end Android devices sold in China have pre-installed malware

A recent study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Trinity College Dublin has revealed that most of top-of-the-range Android devices sold in China are being shipped with spyware.

According to the research, a large number of devices are being sold in China with malicious software pre-installed, including banking Trojans, spyware and other malicious code, used to steal sensitive information such as passwords, bank details and other personal data. The problem has been growing in recent years and the malware is often very difficult to remove, even with the help of anti-virus software.

The researchers compared the system applications pre-installed on Chinese and global Android operating systems from the same developers.

They found that Chinese Android OSes have 3 to 4 times more pre-installed third-party applications than global OSes. In addition, these third-party apps have 8 to 10 times more permissions on Chinese operating systems than their counterparts on Global operating systems.