Public Service -- List of Dangerous Apps to Delete

[bb10adopter111]

VPNs are in a great position to see what connections apps make and where they can send data. That's great if the VPN is legitimate, but many, many of the low cost and free VPNs are suspect.

VPN Pro (who publishes VPN reviews and publishes on privacy) has provided a list of 24 apps that request dangerous permissions from a number of developers that are actually backed by a Chinese company, Shenzhen HAWK, which is, in turn wholly owned by TCL.

This Chinese company is secretly behind 24 popular apps seeking dangerous permissions

AS OF THIS MORNING, IT APPEARS THAT ALL OF THESE APPS HAVE BEEN DELETED FROM THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE.

If you have any of these apps on your Android phone, and if you value your privacy, you should consider uninstalling them immediately. All of these apps send data to China, which requires them to retain all data. It makes absolutely NO SENSE to choose a VPN (or any other apps) based in China, as they will log all information about every internet connection you make, and potentially all the data on your phone that they have permission to access, and are REQUIRED to retain that data locally and make it available to the Chinese government.

China's government has a policy and long history of using industrial espionage to steal intellectual property and other data from western businesses, and employs huge teams of hackers to do this. These apps can help them build a map of networks and access points to attack.

If you just want the digest, this article sums it up:

Delete These Scammy Android Apps That Drove 382M Downloads

Here are the developers in question:

Tap Sky
mie-alcatel.support
ViewYeah Studio
Hawk App
Hi Security
Alcatel Innovation Lab
Shenzen Hawk

and here are the apps, with the developer listed:

Sound Recorder (mie-alcatel.support)
Super Cleaner (Hawk App)
Virus Cleaner 2019 (Hi Security)
File Manager (mie-alcatel.support)
Joy Launcher (mie-alcatel.support)
Turbo Browser (mie-alcatel.support)
Weather Forecast (mie-alcatel.support)
Candy Selfie Camera (ViewYeah Studio)
Hi VPN, Free VPN (Hi Security)
Candy Gallery (Alcatel Innovation Lab)
Calendar Lite (mie-alcatel.support)
Super Battery (Hawk App)
Hi Security 2019 (Hi Security)
Net Master (Hi Security)
Puzzle Box (Tap Sky)
Private Browser (ViewYeah Studio)
Hi VPN Pro (Hi Security)
World Zoo (Tap Sky)
Word Crossy! (Tap Sky)
Soccer Pinball (Tap Sky)
Dig it (Tap Sky)
Laser Break (Tap Sky)
Music Roam (Tap Sky)
Word Crush (Tap Sky)

 

[dendron01]

VPNs are in a great position to see what connections apps make and where they can send data. That's great if the VPN is legitimate, but many, many of the low cost and free VPNs are suspect.

VPN Pro (who publishes VPN reviews and publishes on privacy) has provided a list of 24 apps that request dangerous permissions from a number of developers that are actually backed by a Chinese company, Shenzhen HAWK, which is, in turn wholly owned by TCL.

This Chinese company is secretly behind 24 popular apps seeking dangerous permissions

AS OF THIS MORNING, IT APPEARS THAT ALL OF THESE APPS HAVE BEEN DELETED FROM THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE.

If you have any of these apps on your Android phone, and if you value your privacy, you should consider uninstalling them immediately. All of these apps send data to China, which requires them to retain all data. It makes absolutely NO SENSE to choose a VPN (or any other apps) based in China, as they will log all information about every internet connection you make, and potentially all the data on your phone that they have permission to access, and are REQUIRED to retain that data locally and make it available to the Chinese government.

China's government has a policy and long history of using industrial espionage to steal intellectual property and other data from western businesses, and employs huge teams of hackers to do this. These apps can help them build a map of networks and access points to attack.

If you just want the digest, this article sums it up:

Delete These Scammy Android Apps That Drove 382M Downloads

Here are the developers in question:

Tap Sky
mie-alcatel.support
ViewYeah Studio
Hawk App
Hi Security
Alcatel Innovation Lab
Shenzen Hawk

and here are the apps, with the developer listed:

Sound Recorder (mie-alcatel.support)
Super Cleaner (Hawk App)
Virus Cleaner 2019 (Hi Security)
File Manager (mie-alcatel.support)
Joy Launcher (mie-alcatel.support)
Turbo Browser (mie-alcatel.support)
Weather Forecast (mie-alcatel.support)
Candy Selfie Camera (ViewYeah Studio)
Hi VPN, Free VPN (Hi Security)
Candy Gallery (Alcatel Innovation Lab)
Calendar Lite (mie-alcatel.support)
Super Battery (Hawk App)
Hi Security 2019 (Hi Security)
Net Master (Hi Security)
Puzzle Box (Tap Sky)
Private Browser (ViewYeah Studio)
Hi VPN Pro (Hi Security)
World Zoo (Tap Sky)
Word Crossy! (Tap Sky)
Soccer Pinball (Tap Sky)
Dig it (Tap Sky)
Laser Break (Tap Sky)
Music Roam (Tap Sky)
Word Crush (Tap Sky)

Great advice. Too bad Sound Recorder can't be uninstalled from a TCL BlackBerry device. It can't even be disabled. Any advice for that...buy a Z10 and a few spare batteries perhaps?

 

[chetmanley]

Great advice. Too bad Sound Recorder can't be uninstalled from a TCL BlackBerry device. It can't even be disabled. Any advice for that...buy a Z10 and a few spare batteries perhaps?

The Sound Recorder app mentioned is not the same as the one on a TCL BlackBerry, while they probably have similarities, the BlackBerry version never makes internet connections and has no trackers.

The same applies for the TCL BlackBerry version of the File Manager.

 

[dendron01]

The Sound Recorder app mentioned is not the same as the one on a TCL BlackBerry, while they probably have similarities, the BlackBerry version never makes internet connections and has no trackers.

The same applies for the TCL BlackBerry version of the File Manager.

Good to know BlackBerry was there to catch this. Still, no reason to make it a system app IMO. There are tons of permissions this app has and it's just a basic sound recorder app.

 

[Morty2264]

Thank you for providing us with this list! I just reread the entire list a few times to make sure that I was in the clear!

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Sometimes it's worth checking the address of a developer and maybe avoiding Chinese apps if possible. I don't like Tencent apps if I can avoid them. And they made TikTok a viral app so millions of people are sending their data through Tencent to China due to a viral app. Worries me.