alt Hacker NewsThe article at the end talks about how is very easy for arbitrary apps from app stores can install a residential proxy on your phone.
10 years ago, apps had to explicitly state if they needed network access. And then the powers that be decided that really all apps need network access no matter what. And both ios and android make it hard to deny apps network access.
But really, this finally explains the hordes of really basic boring games that just advertise other boring games. Idle games and the like that really just want you to keep your phone unlocked and open. Millions of downloads on the app stores for entirely offline content (and ads) and no way to block the network access.
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GrapheneOS allows you to deny network access per app pretty trivially. Google Play services make it a bit more difficult because the app might marshall the network request through that; I'm not sure how to verify that behavior when it happens.
The Bright Data “free” VPN they’re talking about requires the user to go through steps to enable it.
These aren’t as simple as downloading a free game and then the phone is compromised as long as it’s installed.
The users who install these things don’t care about permissions prompts. They’ll follow instructions to tap any prompt the instructions ask. They want the free thing and don’t care what they have to do to get it.