Everyone knows that not so long ago Huawei they were banned from cooperating with American companies. Because of this, the new devices of the Chinese giant work without Google services. The trade war between the United States and China has led westerners to become wary of any Chinese product. And this also applies to any Chinese software. And who would have thought that the situation would affect the Korean giant Samsung.
Samsung was suspected of sending personal data of users to Chinese servers
One of the Reddit users with the nickname kchaxcer conducted a small investigation and shared it with other users of the social network. The crux of the problem is that Samsung devices have a built-in storage scanner in the Device Care section. In the scanner window you can find an interesting inscription 'Powered by 360'. It was she who became the cause of the indignation. We are talking about the Chinese company Qihoo 360.
Its software for scanning a Samsung device is built into the system, and it sends data to Chinese servers. You cannot delete it.
The author of the topic is the owner of the flagship Galaxy S10, and his presence of third-party software from a dubious Chinese company in his smartphone worried. Could a company that sells its devices at a price comparable to the cost iPhone offer users functionality developed by a dubious Chinese company?
Qihoo 360 is called dubious for a reason. She is trying to gain market share in China in various ways. The company's antivirus is so bad that memes have been created based on it. By the way, it is also available to Russian users. For those who like to save money, we have prepared the best cheap Galaxy phones.
Antivirus 360 on PC, according to the author of the post, is able to search the computer for antivirus software of competitors and remove it. Some users may be faced with the installation of the panel in the browser and the appearance of advertising inserts with a request to install this antivirus. Several court cases have been filed in China due to Qihoo's aggressive policies.
However, this is not the only thing that can be confusing. In 2017, news broke that Qihoo was willing to work with the Chinese authorities to bring big data to them. In an interview, the head of Qihoo 360 said that the company, if necessary, will transfer data to the Chinese government.
It is difficult to verify the authenticity of this phrase, since the source is in Chinese. However, it also says that a number of companies have previously removed 360 software from their stores, including Xiaomi.
In the Device Care section, you can update the database. The author of the post analyzed the requests with the help of special software and came to the conclusion that they all turn to Chinese servers.
Samsung sends data to servers in China
I could buy a OnePlus or Xiaomi smartphone with similar specs for a lot less money, but chose Samsung because of its premium build quality and less dependence on the Chinese government … Why are we (Samsung owners) exposed to the same data security threats what are the owners of Chinese brands of smartphones?
Kchaxcer user
Another user under the nickname jsDang stated that the smartphone sends important information (IMEI, MAC, Android ID, serial number) to 360 servers, and at the same time almost all of them work over the insecure HTTP protocol, which makes it possible interception of this data.
Servers to which data of Samsung owners is sent
Solution
There are several ways to prevent 360 from sending data to Chinese servers. The first method is rooted. You need to install AdWay and add the domains '.360.cn' and '.360safe.com' to the blacklist.
If you are not rooted, you can use various DNS services. One of these is NextDNS. Create an account in the service and copy the DNS-over-TLS address, which is located in the settings section. In the Blacklist section, add 360.cn and 360safe.com servers. Next, on the smartphone, in the connections section, in the private DNS field, paste the copied DNS-over-TLS. This method works on smartphones with Android 9 and above. Otherwise, you need to install the NextDNS application on the device itself.
However, we do not recommend using equally dubious software, so you should not resort to such manipulations if you do not understand what they are doing. If you need help, you can ask our readers in Telegram.
How to react to this?
Of course, it is wrong when such a large company uses software from another manufacturer with a bad reputation in its operating system. Some users in the comments complain that they see ads on Samsung Pay and on the company's Smart TV, which is strange given the high cost of the company's devices compared to competitors.
It is interesting to know your opinion. How do you feel about this situation, and should Samsung somehow react to such a statement?