-
5 votes
-
The clean network: A US Department of State proposal to provide 5G free of China's interference
3 votes -
US phone carriers may soon be able to block all calls from robocallers' carriers
16 votes -
The phone bill security hole in HIPAA
5 votes -
United Kingdom to ban Huawei equipment in 2021 and remove it from 5G networks by 2027
6 votes -
Hundreds arrested after European law enforcement agencies monitored over 100 million encrypted messages sent through Encrochat, a network used by criminals
20 votes -
Widespread T-Mobile outages cause issues for wireless customers across the US
4 votes -
When phones were fun: Samsung's "Matrix Phone" (2003)
8 votes -
Reverse engineering a £339 5G bioshield
7 votes -
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou loses key court battle as British Columbia judge rules extradition bid should proceed
7 votes -
Ameelio, a startup backed by the Mozilla's 'Fix the Internet', aims to provide free video calls and messaging to prisoners in the US where video calls can cost as much as $25 for 15min
11 votes -
Anatomy of an internet shutdown
7 votes -
Why is TV 29.97 frames per second?
10 votes -
A history of vintage electronics: The Guglielmo Marconi Collection and the history of wireless communications
3 votes -
Facebook invests $5.7 billion in India's Jio Platforms, becoming the largest minority shareholder in the telecommunications company
7 votes -
At least twenty UK phone masts vandalised over false 5G coronavirus claims
13 votes -
5G coronavirus conspiracy theory fueled by coordinated effort
6 votes -
Telstra pauses job cuts for six months, will hire 1000 extra call centre staff
4 votes -
Government of Czech Republic adopted tracking of infected individuals via cellular networks
5 votes -
Hidden third party telemetry found in Nokia 6.2, 7.2 smartphones
Update 12/03/2020: this is not a telemetry, but a kill switch from Colombian carrier - confirmed by HMD. Kill switch will be removed from most devices soon. I updated an article and posted it...
Update 12/03/2020: this is not a telemetry, but a kill switch from Colombian carrier - confirmed by HMD. Kill switch will be removed from most devices soon. I updated an article and posted it here.
Original article below:
I have recently purchased Nokia 6.2 and wanted to check if it sends any data somewhere, considering what happened with previous models
First, I noticed approx. daily connection to
dapi.hmdglobal.net
This is a Google Cloud that could belong to a company behind Nokia - HMD Global.
But the Privacy policy in my phone only speaks of "activation" process, not of daily diagnostics data.
So I used developer tools to remove the following packages (warning: this may break your device, I am not responsible for any consequences)com.hmdglobal.enterprise.api com.qualcomm.qti.qms.service.telemetry com.qualcomm.qti.qmmi com.qualcomm.qti.qdma
Before removing them, I used APK Extractor to save APK files just in case it breaks my phone and I may be able to attempt reinstall. This part comes into play later.
The first was my blind guess about what exactly connects todapi.hmdglobal.net
The next 3 I found mentioned in various forums for other devices as "safe to remove", however, I have not seen any telemetry sent to Qualcomm or anywhere else, except what I mention next.After removing these packages, I noticed that there are some remaining unknown connections my device attempts several times per day.
They are all done in same order, one right after the other:www.pppefa.com www.ppmxfa.com www.forcis.claro.com.co
After some investigation, I found that the first two domains point to some Microsoft Cloud servers rented in US.
The last one most probably belongs to Colombian telecom company, and this is where it becomes interesting.
After many hours of fruitless removing of different apps in my attempt so stop it, I suddenly remembered something.
When I used APK Extractor previously, there was an empty first line with some generic icon where an app icon should have been.
I went there again and indeed, this is a hidden system app, that you can not see in the list of all apps in Settings, normally. But it turns out, you can see it in Data usage (after it successfully sends some data using your mobile connection).
The name of the app is deliberately left empty to hide it, but if you click it in Data usage, you can see that this app isco.sitic.pp
, which can receive SMS, can make calls, and has access to internet.
As with all Android apps, you can reverse read the name to guess what it is.
Turns out, http://sitic.com.co is a Colombian company, who "are leaders in innovation and create mobile and WEB applications for new products and services." (credit goes to Google Translate)screenshot of the app with permissions
In other words, this app is a 3rd party telemetry, hidden from user, not mentioned in the Privacy policy, that has access to SMS.
This looks very bad and I really hope this is a malware injected by factory and not something knowingly distributed by Nokia, HMD Global, the EU company.After removing the
co.sitic.pp
app, requests to Microsoft Cloud and Columbia stopped.
I was later pointed to a German forum, where (I believe) it was first found in a Nokia 7.2 device.
So, we have it confirmed in 2 devices in 2 different countries.On German forum they contacted Nokia (I assume support) but got tired exchanging emails for weeks without any result.
On 02/03/2020 I have requested an official reply from Nokia and HMD Global via press.services@nokia.com and press@hmdglobal.com and waiting for reply.
Since I am not a journalist, I may never get one.TLDR: 3rd party telemetry is found in Nokia 6.2 and 7.2 devices, is hidden from user, has access to SMS, and sends data to Microsoft Cloud in US and a server in Columbia.
It is probably supplied by SITIC S.A.S., a Colombian company, and looks more like a malware than a telemetry.28 votes -
Department of Justice announces a 16-count superseding indictment against Huawei, four subsidiaries, and CFO Wanzhou Meng that includes charges of racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets
9 votes -
US officials say Huawei has had the capability to secretly access telecom networks around the world for over a decade
15 votes -
Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest phone show, has been canceled due to coronavirus concerns
9 votes -
Deep sea diving: The state of submarine cable technology
6 votes -
Cut undersea cable plunges Yemen into days-long internet outage
6 votes -
Hackers are breaking directly into telecom companies to take over customer phone numbers
10 votes -
The Light Phone
20 votes -
One nation, tracked : An investigation into the smartphone tracking industry
15 votes -
Telenor has picked Sweden's Ericsson as the key technology provider for its 5G telecoms network in Norway
4 votes -
McKee, Kentucky has a population of 1200 people and gigabit internet provided by the Peoples' Rural Telephone Cooperative
7 votes -
Nokia's collapse turned a sleepy town in Finland into an internet wonderland
5 votes -
The court allowed the FCC to kill net neutrality because washing machines can’t make phone calls
8 votes -
Norway does not plan to block China's Huawei Technologies from building the country's 5G telecoms network
5 votes -
Colorado town offers 1 gbps for $60 after years of battling Comcast
11 votes -
Russian propaganda stoking 5G health fears in Australia
16 votes -
The science is clear; we've more to fear from baby monitors than 5G
12 votes -
ProtonMail and Huawei: A relationship made in privacy hell
13 votes -
Communications and internet have been blacked out in Kashmir since August 4 - five people explain what it's like to live through
8 votes -
What CIOs need to know about 5G: It isn’t time to get started with 5G implementations. But it IS time to plan
4 votes -
Apple buys Intel’s smartphone modem business
10 votes -
Gotta catch 'em all: Understanding how IMSI-catchers exploit cell networks
4 votes -
Gotta catch 'em all: Understanding how IMSI-catchers exploit cell networks
6 votes -
Dutch telephone outage takes out nation’s emergency number for over three hours
9 votes -
Huawei’s export ban is wider in scope than most people imagine
6 votes -
Google argues the Huawei ban would hurt its Android monopoly
6 votes -
Facebook suspends app pre-installs on Huawei phones
9 votes -
Everyone is framing 5G as a "race", but nobody seems to be able to explain why it matters who wins
10 votes -
Huawei ejected from Wi-Fi Alliance, SD Association, and other standards groups
14 votes -
EU leaders: We won't follow Trump's Huawei ban
12 votes -
5G networks could throw weather forecasting into chaos
19 votes