Security News > 2020 > July > Researchers Find Pre-Installed Malware on More Android Phones in U.S.

Following a January report on malware found pre-installed on smartphones sold in the United States to budget-conscious users, Malwarebytes has discovered another mobile device riddled with malware from the get-go.

Now, Malwarebytes's Nathan Collier says that another phone model provided through the Lifeline Assistance program was found to include pre-installed malware: the ANS UL40 running Android 7.1.1.

The same as the UMX U686CL, the ANS UL40 features infected Settings and Wireless Update apps right from the start, although they were found plagued with different malware variants.

"Let's review. We have a Settings app found on an ANS UL40 with a digital certificate signed by a company that is a registered brand of UMX. For the scoreboard, that's two different Settings apps with two different malware variants on two different phone manufactures & models that appear to all tie back to TeleEpoch Ltd. Additionally, thus far the only two brands found to have preinstalled malware in the Settings app via the Lifeline Assistance program are ANS and UMX," Collier notes.

Further research revealed that the ANS L51 was yet another ANS device delivered with pre-installed malware, and that it had the same malware variants identified on the UMX U683CL. Malwarebytes believes that ANS will remove the malware from the flagged devices sooner rather than later, just as UMX did, but also presents a series of steps that users can take to ensure that HiddenAds does not re-infect their phones.

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