Chinese spyware in apps can track location, data of Uyghurs: Report

Cybersecurity researchers have found evidence of Chinese spyware in Uyghur-language apps that can track the whereabouts and collect information of Uyghurs living in China and abroad.

Since 2018, numerous Uyghur-language Android apps have been discovered to be infected with two strains of spyware linked to hacker groups backed by the Chinese government, states a report by the San Francisco-based cloud security firm Lookout.

The spyware, which experts claim is affiliated with a hacking group backed by the Chinese government, can be used to monitor users of services that China may view as “pre-crimes” or as signs that someone is currently engaging in or plans to engage in separatist or religious extremist activity.

Using a VPN or sharing any kind of religious content are examples of “pre-crime” activities and can lead to being detained in a re-education camp.

Uyghurs in China are the main target of the surveillance campaign, but the report also claims that there is evidence that those responsible also intended to target Uyghurs in Muslim-majority nations like Afghanistan or Turkey. The largest Uyghur diaspora outside of Central Asia is found in Turkey, where there are thought to be 50,000 Uyghurs.

Researchers claim that many of the apps that contain this spyware, which they call as Badbazaar, collect data from the device, including location, contacts, call logs, wifi information, and the ability to record phone calls and take pictures.

Additionally, the researchers discovered that more recent versions of Moonshine, an Android exploit first identified in 2019 by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, incorporate spyware in well-known applications like WhatsApp and Telegram as well as “versions of Muslim cultural apps, Uyghur-language tools, or prayer apps.”

Google Play is blocked in China, so the Android apps that imitate existing services are typically found on unofficial app stores and are also disseminated through messaging services like Telegram.

The infected app samples were dated from 2018, and the vast majority of apps infected with one strain of spyware were discovered in the second half of this year, according to the report.

“Despite growing international pressure, Chinese threat actors operating on behalf of the Chinese state are likely to continue to distribute surveillanceware targeting Uyghur and Muslim mobile device users through Uyghur-language communications platforms,” researchers at Lookout wrote.

Uyghurs are a Turkic Muslim minority who are predominately found in China’s Xinjiang region. A recent UN report suggested Beijing may have committed crimes against humanity.

The treatment of the Uyghurs by China, according to the United States and lawmakers in other Western nations, amounts to ‘genocide’.

With inputs from agencies

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