Xiaomi phones pre-installed security app poses threat to users: Report

Smartphones usually come with pre-installed apps, some of which are useful and some that never get used at all. What a user does not expect, however, is for a pre-installed app to be an actual liability to their privacy and security.

Check Point Research recently discovered a vulnerability in one of the preinstalled apps in one of the world’s biggest mobile vendors, Xiaomi, which with almost 8% market share ranks third in the mobile phone market. Ironically, it was the pre-installed security app, ‘Guard Provider’ (com.miui.guardprovider), which should protect the phone by detecting malware, which actually exposes the user to an attack.