Low Budget Should Not Mean High Risk: Kids’ Tablet Came Preloaded with Sketchyware

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It’s easy to get Android devices from online vendors like Amazon at different price points. Unfortunately, it is also easy to end up with an Android device with malware at these lower budgets. There are several factors that contribute to this: multiple devices manufactured in the same facility, lack of standards on security when choosing components, and lack of quality assurance and scrutiny by the vendors that sell these devices. We investigated a tablet that had potential malware on it bought from the online vendor Amazon; a Dragon Touch KidzPad Y88X 10 kid’s tablet. As of this post, the tablet in question is no longer listed on Amazon, although it was available for the majority of this year.

It turns out malware was present, with an added bonus of pre-installed riskware and a very outdated parental control app. This is a major concern since this is a tablet marketed for kids.

Parents have plenty of worry and concern about how their kids use technology as it is. Ongoing conversations and negotiations about the time spent on devices happen in many households. Potential malware or riskware should not be a part of these concerns just because you purchased a budget Android tablet for your child. It just so happens that some of the parents at EFF conduct security research. But this is not what it should take to keep your kid safe.

“Stock Android”

To understand this issue better, it’s useful to know what “stock Android” means and how manufacturers approach choosing an OS. The Android operating system is open sourced by Google and officially known as the

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