There’s a discovery of Pre-installed malware on another phone by researchers from Malwarebytes; through the lifeline Assistance program for sale in the United States. It is on record to be the second time, according to reports published in January.

The UMX U686CL phone is said to be for sale with pre-installed malware. This was discovered in January by the Malwarebytes researchers. These phones were on sale for buyers; and there were pre-installed with malicious malware that came in the form of a setting app and wireless update application.

Even the American network solutions, the ANS UL40 running android 7.1 phone model offered via the lifeline assistance program, had this pre-installed threat. For clarity, it isn’t clear if the phone we are referring to, the ANS UL40; is presently available by assurance wireless. However, at the time of writing this piece, the ANS UL40 manual for users is listed on the Assurance wireless website.

Just like the UMX U686CL model, the ANS UL40 contains malicious programs as well via its wireless update apps and setting. The only thing is that the two cases are different because of the malware families.

A potentially unwanted program is the wirelessUpdate riskware. It is an auto-installer that would auto-install apps without the knowledge of the users. This app is useful in updating the software that runs on the phone. Experts noted that the digital certificate employed for the setting app on ANS UL40 has the primary name of the telepoch. So the brand “UMX” in the United States was registered by TeleEpoch Company LTD.

By reviewing the above statement by Malwarebytes, there is a setting app on an ANUL40; that has a digital certificate signed by a company known to be a registered brand of UMX. So far, the two brands that have the pre-installed virus in the setting app through the lifeline assistance program are the UMX and ANS. Tradeoffs are available when selecting a budget mobile device; these tradeoffs include storage size, performance, screen quality, and host of others will help make a device cost-effective.