While all of the installed apps Malwarebytes examined were clean and free of malware, the presence of a feature that automatically installs apps poses an unacceptable risk, particularly since removing the feature prevents the phone from receiving updates. Collier’s post classified Wireless Update as malware, but Jérôme Segura, Malwarebytes’ head of threat intelligence, told me its actual classification is a PUP, or potentially unwanted program, since there’s no evidence the apps that are installed are malicious.
In any event, the two apps analyzed by Malwarebytes make use of the UMX U CL a bad choice. The fact that it’s made available to low-income users only worsens the insult. Malwarebytes said it notified Assurance Wireless of its findings and asked why the phone it sells comes with preinstalled malware. So far, no one has responded. I asked representatives from Sprint, the owner of Virgin Mobile, for comment for this post. The representative said she was looking in to the matter but has yet to give a reply.
It’s not hard to find online discussions like this onecomplaining of annoying displayed ads and apps automatically installing on the device without user permission. A similar thread
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