Xiaomi admits system loophole that leaks users’ data

By Zhu Shenshen | August 11, 2014, Monday |

Online Edition

XIAOMI Corp, which surpassed Samsung to become China’s biggest smartphone vendor in the second quarter, apologized to users and offered fixing software after an Internet security firm posted its loophole for revealing users’ privacy last week.

Xiaomi was secretly sending users’ data from their phones, through a free messaging service with MIUI system, back to its servers in Beijing, according to Finland-based security firm F-Secure.

The data included the carrier’s name, phone number, IMEI (the device identifier) plus numbers from the address book and text messages. Meanwhile, those data were unencrypted, which allowed many firms and people easily to access them.

Xiaomi had fixed the problem in a latest patch of its MIUI system to close the function by default, said the Beijing-based firm.

ìWe are sorry for the concerns caused to users and the public and we will continue offering high-quality and safe mobile Internet services,î Xiaomi said in a statement.

Xiaomi is not alone with regard to privacy issues among smartphone vendors. Apple Inc was also reported to have similar problems in its iPhones.

The free message service allows users to send and receive messages with other Xiaomi users, just like Apple’s iMessage services.

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Xiaomi admits system loophole that leaks users’ data

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