Unremovable Israel Spyware found on Samsung Phones

[Emeraldo]

If you are using a Samsung phone, you might not safe yet because Isreal must have been collecting your data through the Cloudapp pre installed on the Samsung phones mainly to spy on users that are living mostly in the Middle East and some part of Africa.

The current furor started with an “open letter to Samsung” from SMEX, which describes itself as “a non-profit that advocates for and advances human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa.” The letter asked Samsung to “end forced Israeli founded bloatware installations.”

AppCloud is a third party application recommendation service that appears when users first set up the Samsung Galaxy A, M, and F series devices. This service is also active after the system update. Many users consider it just bloatware that is difficult to turn off and is one way for Samsung to earn additional income from cheap valuable devices.



SMEX says it has investigated AppCloud and that it is “unremovable, deeply integrated into the devices’ operating system, making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks. Even disabling the bloatware is not effective as it can reappear after system updates.”

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[Hispo]

Wow... just wow... if this is true then I would completely re-consider my preference for Samsung as one of my favorite brands for technology (specially smartphones), this is the kind of stuff one is only supposed to see in very disturbing science fiction movies about an dark future where all humanity is spied on, for the sake of an oppressive regime.
I wonder why would even Samsung allow such thing on their phones, if they are a very powerful and wealthy company, which does not need to have an extra source of income to keep themselves relevant in the market... Perhaps, they felt pressured for the very low prices of chinese phones.
Either way, this is very sad news, how companies are literally willing to sell their customers out so eagerly.

[LTU_btc]

Wow... just wow... if this is true then I would completely re-consider my preference for Samsung as one of my favorite brands for technology (specially smartphones), this is the kind of stuff one is only supposed to see in very disturbing science fiction movies about an dark future where all humanity is spied on, for the sake of an oppressive regime.
I wonder why would even Samsung allow such thing on their phones, if they are a very powerful and wealthy company, which does not need to have an extra source of income to keep themselves relevant in the market... Perhaps, they felt pressured for the very low prices of chinese phones.
Either way, this is very sad news, how companies are literally willing to sell their customers out so eagerly.

I see that Israel is main trigger in this story, but I don't see why it's called spyware app. Just because it comes from Israel doesn't automatically makes them spyware app? Or it was confirmed that this app is spying people?
For me it looks like nothing more than usual pre-installed shit that comes in most phones. Other option offcourse is Chinese phones with even more such crap and Winnie the Pooh collecting your data. Or Apple...

[JeromeTash]

I see that Israel is main trigger in this story, but I don't see why it's called spyware app. Just because it comes from Israel doesn't automatically makes them spyware app? Or it was confirmed that this app is spying people?

People are right to get triggered, though. With the atrocities Israel has committed through spyware and malware over the past few years, they can do anything to have spyware installed on several phones or have some sort of backdoor.

Israeli spyware has made it to the news several times
1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pegasus-spyware

For me it looks like nothing more than usual pre-installed shit that comes in most phones. Other option offcourse is Chinese phones with even more such crap and Winnie the Pooh collecting your data. Or Apple...

At the moment, I would rather China has my data to be honest  

[Emeraldo]

Wow... just wow... if this is true then I would completely re-consider my preference for Samsung as one of my favorite brands for technology (specially smartphones), this is the kind of stuff one is only supposed to see in very disturbing science fiction movies about an dark future where all humanity is spied on, for the sake of an oppressive regime.
I wonder why would even Samsung allow such thing on their phones, if they are a very powerful and wealthy company, which does not need to have an extra source of income to keep themselves relevant in the market... Perhaps, they felt pressured for the very low prices of chinese phones.
Either way, this is very sad news, how companies are literally willing to sell their customers out so eagerly.

I see that Israel is main trigger in this story, but I don't see why it's called spyware app. Just because it comes from Israel doesn't automatically makes them spyware app? Or it was confirmed that this app is spying people?
For me it looks like nothing more than usual pre-installed shit that comes in most phones. Other option offcourse is Chinese phones with even more such crap and Winnie the Pooh collecting your data. Or Apple...

This update is not about Isreal but the safety of people that are using that device without knowing that they are being spy on.
Israel is a smart country that has been found guilty in many occasions spying on their adversaries with sophisticated tools without the users' consent.
Isreal as a country has developed different kind of spywares that are hard to detect except you have sophisticated programmed tools to detect it and this might take several weeks. You have to care about your privacy first before anything and don't think this post was made to trigger wrong energy about Isreal or Samsung.

In case you don't know about some spyware tools made by Isreal, I am going to bring your notice to few of them I can remember.
Remember that Graphite is a spyware tool created by Isreali company called Paragon Solution. This spyware can give access to messaging apps without your consent and it works anonymously.

Paragus is another spyware that was created by an Isreali company called NSO group and this one is more sophisticated than anything you can imagine. This spyware is mostly known as zero click exploit that can get into your device through a phone call. You don't have to pick the call before the spyware get full access to your device instantly. The spyware is deadly and can be used to spy on government officials, activists, politicians and even you.

The usual and known way for you to get hacked is through clicking phishing link, visiting corrupt websites, downloading films, images and audio files etc, the zero click exploit has no business with that. With a single phone call, all your files, documents, videos and images can be extracted without your notice.

[0x000369]

man this whole spyware stuff is getting crazy every year phones supposed to be smart but now it feels like they spying on us more than we even use them

when i saw the news about this cloudapp thing i was like bruh here we go again another pre installed app nobody asked for doing side quests in the background its lowkey scary because most people never check what these system apps are doing you cant delete them you cant disable them and samsung acting like trust us bro when the whole world already lost trust in tech companies

and the fact that this is being used mostly in middle east and africa doesnt even surprise me anymore those regions always get hit with the weirdest surveillance experiments like we are beta testers for stuff nobody asked for honestly at this point the safest phone is the one in airplane mode inside a drawer inside another drawer inside a refrigerator wrapped in aluminum foil

but jokes aside people really need to start checking what apps are running in the background turning off permissions blocking connections and using custom roms if possible otherwise we basically walking around with portable CCTV in our pockets

until samsung answers properly i dont trust anything they pre install especially when ngos are literally writing open letters accusing them

[LTU_btc]

People are right to get triggered, though. With the atrocities Israel has committed through spyware and malware over the past few years, they can do anything to have spyware installed on several phones or have some sort of backdoor.

Israeli spyware has made it to the news several times
1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pegasus-spyware

Not denying that people have right to get triggered. But this story raises me some questions. Yes, if we talk about privacy, from this perspective this app is a nightmare. But besides collecting data I don't see any confirmations that collected data is beingsent to Israel government, Mossad or someone else. Though, offcourse, I'm not denying that it might happen.
Israel is everywhere in the headlines, but nobody don't pay attention that this company now is being owned by American company Unity.
BTW, I accidentally found on Samsung forum that's not even something new, people were complaining about this app few years back.

I looke article about Pegasus. Not defending Israel, but in this article it's mentioned that ower 40 countries have access to this spyware. It sounds terrible.
https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-a-series/how-do-i-get-rid-of-appcloud/td-p/7918282

In case you don't know about some spyware tools made by Isreal, I am going to bring your notice to few of them I can remember.
Remember that Graphite is a spyware tool created by Isreali company called Paragon Solution. This spyware can give access to messaging apps without your consent and it works anonymously.

I wasn't very familiar with their spyware, but never denied that Israel is making it. Same like all other big forces like USA, China, Russia, India and etc. But here I'm more interested about this specific case.

[Hispo]

Wow... just wow... if this is true then I would completely re-consider my preference for Samsung as one of my favorite brands for technology (specially smartphones), this is the kind of stuff one is only supposed to see in very disturbing science fiction movies about an dark future where all humanity is spied on, for the sake of an oppressive regime.
I wonder why would even Samsung allow such thing on their phones, if they are a very powerful and wealthy company, which does not need to have an extra source of income to keep themselves relevant in the market... Perhaps, they felt pressured for the very low prices of chinese phones.
Either way, this is very sad news, how companies are literally willing to sell their customers out so eagerly.

I see that Israel is main trigger in this story, but I don't see why it's called spyware app. Just because it comes from Israel doesn't automatically makes them spyware app? Or it was confirmed that this app is spying people?
For me it looks like nothing more than usual pre-installed shit that comes in most phones. Other option offcourse is Chinese phones with even more such crap and Winnie the Pooh collecting your data. Or Apple...

I am just against whayever entity which tries to get their way by collecting ones data and benefit from it. Also, I believe it is safe enough to assume the government of Israel has something to do with that application on Samsung phones, considering how close the government is Israel is with any company related to date collection and intelligence, it would not be the first time they tried to spread malware around their opponents in order to spy and counter their foes.
I am not trying to downplay the actions taken by the government of China, The chinese communist party can be very nefarious.

[Tipstar]

Not a surprise at all. Everyone knows these phone companies spies for the their government. Iphone spies for the USA and its allies, Samsung being a South Korean brand has to obey the orders from the USA and its proxy Israel. Huawei and Xiaomi would do that for China. Everyone is utilizing everything to spy on one another.
When you don't have anything and need to consume other's product, you are accepting the terms that you are okay with being a spy for those company.

[Fiatless]

Not a surprise at all. Everyone knows these phone companies spies for the their government. Iphone spies for the USA and its allies, Samsung being a South Korean brand has to obey the orders from the USA and its proxy Israel. Huawei and Xiaomi would do that for China. Everyone is utilizing everything to spy on one another.
When you don't have anything and need to consume other's product, you are accepting the terms that you are okay with being a spy for those company.

These companies will always be loyal to their parent countries. It's not just Samsung but all other brands. The explosion of pagers in Lebanon, which were produced by a Hungarian company called BAC, is still fresh in my memory.

In some cases, the terms of service wouldn't include the real functions of the apps that are in a device. 

[OgNasty]

Not a surprise at all. Everyone knows these phone companies spies for the their government. Iphone spies for the USA and its allies, Samsung being a South Korean brand has to obey the orders from the USA and its proxy Israel. Huawei and Xiaomi would do that for China. Everyone is utilizing everything to spy on one another.
When you don't have anything and need to consume other's product, you are accepting the terms that you are okay with being a spy for those company.

These companies will always be loyal to their parent countries. It's not just Samsung but all other brands. The explosion of pagers in Lebanon, which were produced by a Hungarian company called BAC, is still fresh in my memory.

In some cases, the terms of service wouldn't include the real functions of the apps that are in a device. 

At this point you'd have to be pretty foolish to actually assume that anything you do is private.  I'm sure that the amount of information being collected on people would shock the average person.  The NSA probably has teams of people that just look at selfies all day long...  I'm sure they have AI building risk profiles on every person on the planet.  I fear the day that they start going through old data and arresting every person who ever jaywalked or find some other ridiculous way to financially harm those who do not abide by every little thing they're told.

[programmer3666]

honestly this is a worrying issue because if a preinstalled Samsung app can not be removed and might be collecting user data then people deserve clear answers from Samsung it is important for users to know what the app does, why it is there in the first place and whether their privacy is at risk so Samsung should respond and give full transparency so people can feel safe using their phones and other products

[Hispo]

Not a surprise at all. Everyone knows these phone companies spies for the their government. Iphone spies for the USA and its allies, Samsung being a South Korean brand has to obey the orders from the USA and its proxy Israel. Huawei and Xiaomi would do that for China. Everyone is utilizing everything to spy on one another.
When you don't have anything and need to consume other's product, you are accepting the terms that you are okay with being a spy for those company.

Though, what it catches my attention the most is how a south Korean company has been pushed to obey the orders of the government of the United States, instead of the government of South Korea. Probably, it has something to do with some deal between Samsung and the United States, so the south Korean company can continue to hold a privileged position in the north American market in detriment of Chinese phones and other electronic products. If Samsung out of nowhere decided they don't want to continue to cooperate with The USA and Israel, then it would be translated on tariffs against Samsung and others products done in South Korea, so in some sense Samsung is doing all of this to continue in the market. It is just business to them and nothing more.