#7
The Hacker News
general
October 13, 2026 at 06:00 UTC
Low-Cost Android Phones Ship With Preinstalled Malware That Turns Them Into Residential Proxies
By [email protected] (The Hacker News)
AI Summary
Bitdefender researchers tracking a campaign dubbed 'Midnight Mimosa' found that low-cost Android smartphones built on MediaTek platforms across multiple brands are shipping with preinstalled firmware-level malware. The malware enables covert app installation, ad fraud, and enrollment of devices into residential proxy networks—all without user interaction. Because the malicious code is embedded in the device firmware, standard security tools and factory resets may be insufficient to remove it.
Relevance score: 85.0/100
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