Chinese Android phones with malware for money theft are circulating

While many focus on the possible espionage from her phones Huawei, there is another significant risk that comes from others Chinese Android phones infected with malware to steal their money users.

The company Secure-D and the news site BuzzFeed News they revealed that some low cost Tecno W2 phones sent to countries around the world, have been infected with malware. The Triada and xHelper malware, which are installed on these phones, secretly download applications and subscribe to services Paid. As a result, users are faced with huge bills.

Chinese Android phones with malware for stealing money?

The pre-installed malware on phones is not a new idea, but the Malwarebytes parser, Nathan Collier, told BuzzFeed that Triada and xHelper software are very insidious. They create various problems, but the most worrying is that can not be removed by factory reset.

The specific Chinese Android phones have mainly arrived at African countries, such as Egypt, Ghana and South Africa. However, some devices have also reached Indonesia and Myanmar. Secure-D said it blocked 844.000 malware transactions between March and December 2019.

Η Transsion, the company behind Chinese Android phones Tecno accused an anonymous "supplier in the supply chain process" of installing the malware. The company said it provided fixes for the Triada in March 2018 and for xHelper in late 2019. However, the issue does not appear to have disappeared. Secure-D said it would continue to block Triada and xHelper on Transsion phones until April 2020.

Companies such as TCL had similar problems with pre-installed malware, Secure-D said.

There is no evidence that Transsion had malicious intent and was responsible for stealing malware. money. However, this incident does not help Chinese phones and companies that have often been blamed for monitoring of users. This situation also puts many prospective buyers in a difficult position. Tecno is attractive precisely because it is one of the few brands aimed primarily at low-income buyers. The customers They may not have many alternatives if they are forced to give up Chinese Tecno Android phones.