Chinese court finds Gionee guilty of inflicting over 20 million phones with malware

A Chinese court has charged Gionee with intentionally installing malware on its smartphones. Between December 2018 and October 2019, Gionee was found to be infecting over 20 million smartphones with Trojan Horse via an app, according to a report by China Judgment Document Network. Reportedly, the app was being used as a tool to profit from users via unsolicited ads, and other illegal means. As per the report, the app was automatically installed on Gioness users’ phones without their consent.

The report said that Shenzhen Zhipu Technology Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Gionee has implanted Trojan Horse through a software update using the “Story Lock Screen” app. The report further explains that the software is automatically updated on the affected Gionee smartphones without the user’s knowledge using the pull method. The company used a “Dark Horse Platform” to install and update the Trojan Horse malware on the affected smartphones. Gionee is said to have made $4.2 million (roughly Rs 31 crores) by affecting close to 21.75 million smartphones between December 2018 and October 2019.

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The Chinese court has found Xu Li, Zhu Ying, Jia Zhengqiang, and Pan Qi guilty in the process of illegally controlling mobile devices. Xu Li, Zhu Ying, and Jia Zhengqiang have been sentenced for three years, while Pan Qi has been sent to prison for six months. Each has been slapped with a CNY 200,000 (roughly Rs 22,57,000) fine as well.