technology
Study Finds Foreign Code in Over One in Eight Military Apps
Researchers at Purdue University, the US Military Academy at West Point, and Florida International University examined more than 220 apps marketed to US military personnel. More than 12.5 percent contained software built by companies in China, Russia, or other foreign nations. The analysis also showed that 40 percent collected or shared more data than disclosed in store listings.
Jul 20, 5:30 AM·1m read2 sources
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Researchers from Purdue University, the US Military Academy at West Point, and Florida International University reviewed more than 220 apps drawn from the Google Play store and military subreddits and found that more than one in eight contained software built by companies in China, Russia, or other foreign nations, Wired reported.
Nearly two-thirds of the apps included third-party code known as SDKs, while roughly 7 percent carried code from nations the Pentagon considers adversarial.
Twelve apps contained HMS Core, a Huawei software kit, including one popular app used by service members to rate living conditions on bases and several built for state National Guard organizations. Two apps were built by Russian companies and incorporate the Russian ad service Yandex.
In at least one case the Huawei code arrived without the developer’s knowledge through a commercial notification tool dependency, though researchers observed no data actually going to Huawei servers.
A survey of 103 military-affiliated Americans found that more than 83 percent used at least one app engaging in data practices they found uncomfortable, with participants using more than three such apps on average. Between 76 and 83 percent said they were extremely uncomfortable with apps containing code from China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea.
Nearly two-thirds reported receiving little or no institutional guidance on personal app use, and of those who received some, nearly three-quarters called it inadequate.
