Igexin use their advertising SDK to siphon user data back to their servers in China

Not all apps using the Igexin SDK were found to be collecting data, but they all had the potential to do it. (Source: Pixabay)

Igexin, the developer of an advertising software kit, has been caught collecting user data and sending it back to servers in China. Their kit was used in 500 legitimate applications and used the permissions granted to those apps to collect data such as call logs. Google has disabled the compromised applications while the developers replace the advertising APIs.

Craig Ward, Published 08/23/2017

In 2016, the Chinese firmware developer 'Adups' was caught inserting malicious code into firmware delivered to devices such as those by BLU and the B&N Nook. Now, in 2017, malware researchers from 'Lookout' have found that a software development kit (SDK) by Ixegin for inserting advertising was collecting user data and reporting it back to Igexin servers in China.

The researchers noticed that malware was being found on newly reset phones after they had made contact with Igexin's servers. The SDK was used in around 500 legitimate applications, several of which had over one million downloads and one had over 50 million downloads. Igexin was using the permissions granted to these apps to execute malicious commands designed to collect a range of data such as call logs, as well as silently downloading and running malicious code.

The researchers notified Google, who responded by disabling the compromised applications while developers issue updates using an alternative advertising SDK. None of the compromised applications have been identified since the app developers weren't aware of the malicious code, but the list of affected applications includes games, weather apps, photo editors, internet radio and more.

Source(s)

Bleeping Computer

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Craig Ward - Tech Writer - 397 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017

I grew up in a family surrounded by technology, starting with my father loading up games for me on a Commodore 64, and later on a 486. In the late 90's and early 00's I started learning how to tinker with Windows, while also playing around with Linux distributions, both of which gave me an interest for learning how to make software do what you want it to do, and modifying settings that aren't normally user accessible. After this I started building my own computers, and tearing laptops apart, which gave me an insight into hardware and how it works in a complete system. Now keeping up with the latest in hardware and software news is a passion of mine.

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