14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung phones and tablets allegedly come with what is being described as “spyware” that communicates with Chinese servers regularly.
A reddit thread that has gone viral includes a closer look at a feature called Device Care and available on all Samsung phones and tablets.
As Samsung itself confirms, the “Storage” module of Device Care is “powered by 360,” but no information is provided as to why it phones back home to China.
While Qihoo 360, the company that Samsung points to, has previously been involved in several privacy scandals that included hidden data collection, little is known about what’s happening on phones and tablets developed by the South Korean manufacturer.
The user who started the reddit thread warns that providing such a shady firm with access to all data on the device is risky in the first place.
“The Storage scanner on your phone have full access to all your personal data (since it's part of the system), and by Chinese laws and regulations, would send these data to the government when required,” they explain.
Blocking Chinese servers with and without root
A closer look at the Storage module of Device Care reveals that when launched, the feature communicates with several Chinese servers, albeit for now it’s not known what data it transmits.
“Unfortunately I wasn't able to parse what exactly was transferred to the servers, since it would require me to do a man in a middle attack on my phone which required root access,” the original poster says.
Blocking Device Care from phoning back home isn’t an easy thing to do. Without root, this is possible by blacklisting the Chinese domains that it connects to using services like NextDNS. With root, ad blockers like AdAway and Blokada make it easier to restrict access to the said domains.
In the meantime, Samsung customers have already posted on the official forums a request to remove Qihoo 360 software from Device Care.
Samsung has remained completely tight-lipped on these claims so far, but I have reached out to the company and will update the post when and if I get an answer.