It would appear that malware is becoming more and more of a problem on Android, since it’s just been spotted one of the most harmless looking devices out there. It’s the NOOK tablet from Barnes & Noble, the $50 e-reader that people like so much.
This is a familiar piece of malware, that was also spotted on BLU devices last month. The 7 incher is using the same ADUPS software that the BLU R1 HD had. The bad news is that the NOOK can’t have the software disabled like the BLU devices did. ADUPS is able to read and transmit all the data on the device, including texts, phone calls, location info, private date and more, so it basically spies on you.
Data gets sent to China, but considering the problems with BLU such features have probably been disabled already. The capability to sent data does remain there though and ADUPS could be activated after the scandal dies down. Apparently Google can’t block this solution on account of it running on a device with a MediaTek CPU for some reason.
Hopefully Barnes & Noble figures a way to remove the malware.
