Rabat_ Social Media Exchange (SMEX)—a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human rights in digital spaces across MENA [Middle East and North Africa] — is warning that Israeli-linked software secretly embedded in Samsung phones across the Middle East and North Africa region poses a serious surveillance threat.

According to SMEX, Samsung’s A and M series devices either come preloaded with the app “Aura” or install it automatically through system updates, without the user’s consent. The application reportedly collects a wide range of personal and device-specific data, including IP addresses, device fingerprints, hardware details, and network information.

  • devedeset@lemmy.zip
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    3 hours ago

    Could it be your carrier somehow doing that? I’ve literally never had that happen

    • FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 hours ago

      it definitely is a carrier thing. my phone is carrier unlocked, but because it used to be a T-Mobile phone I still had their shitty T-Mobile app manager randomly installing shit. I was wise enough to disable it but many have no idea you can. same goes for this appcloud thing, it’s been around for a long time and affects a lot of Japanese and Chinese phones too. I switched from iPhone and this bewildered me, no idea how it’s even legal.