What is the price of a smartphone "techno" that is unfamiliar in Japan?
Techno is one of the brands developed by Chinese transions, and Transion has also developed inexpensive smartphones and mobile phones for developing countries.
Despite being a new manufacturer who launched his first smartphone in 2014, he kicked Samsung and Nokia, who had long dominated the African market, and are now at the top.
However, the success of the techno is accompanied.A 41 -year -old Mukuroshi, who was unemployed, was hindered by a pop -up advertisement that was displayed when using Tecno W2, and he began to recruit frustration.
I also noticed that the data communication that I did not remember was being done and that I received a message about paid subscriptions for apps that I did not apply.
"I couldn't overlook it, and I didn't know what data communication was charged, so I stopped using the data communication service at some point," said Mukuroshi.
Mukuroshi accepted his operation mistake.However, according to a survey by SECURE-D and BUZFEED NEWS for mobile devices, it turned out that the software that had entered Mukuroshi's smartphone from the beginning was generated (self-self-self) and generated a fee.did.
Mukuroshi's TECNO W2 was infected with malware (software that illegally operates devices), XHELPER and TRIADA, which strictly download the app and contract with paid services without permission.
The fraudulent software pre -installed on the smartphone may communicate without permission and contract with a paid service.
Secure-D is a mobile carrier system that protects networks and users from illegal communication.According to the data, it blocked 844,000 malware communications pre -installed on Transion smartphones from March to December 2019.
Jeffrey Cleves, the Secure-D management director, told Buzzfeed News as follows:
"The data communication that Mr. Mukuroshi noticed was made by the pre -installed malware to sign a contract with the paid service. If the contract was made, the data communication would have been swollen in no time."
TECNO W2 malware infections were confirmed not only in South Africa, but also in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia and Myanmar.
"Transion -related data communication is performed by 4 % of users we have examined in Africa. However, more than 18 % of suspicious click operations were occupied by Transion."Is revealed.
This is the latest case indicating that inexpensive Chinese smartphones are eating poor people around the world.
At present, security concerns about Chinese apps and hardware are concentrated in backdoor suspected to have been set up on Huaway 5G devices.Recently, the information collected by the short video SNS "Tiktok" may be abused by the operating company's part -time dancing and the Chinese government.
On the other hand, malware has been installed on a cheaper smartphone made by Chinese manufacturers, and the problems of sucking money from the poor are overlooked.
Transion spokeswoman commented to BUZZFEED NEWS that TRIADA and XHELPER were hidden in a part of the Tecno W2, which was the "vendor involved in the supply chain."
"The most important thing is to protect your data and provide safe products. Software installed on each device will have a series of strict security tests. Our company.Not only the security inspection tools, but also "Google Play Protect", "GMS BTS" and "Virustotal".
A spokeswoman said that Transion was not profitable from the malware in question.However, he rejected the number of smartphones infected with malware.
"Digital colonialism" that exploits the poor with fraudulent software
Michael Kwett, a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Yale, is a visiting researcher in South Africa, and calls Chinese smartphones to raise data and money from poor people.
"If you don't have the money you can use freely, some people will try to eat the data. It is exactly the problem that there is no appropriate business model in the digital society," Kuwet says.
