{"id":13494,"date":"2020-08-28T19:18:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T19:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=13494"},"modified":"2020-08-28T19:33:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T19:33:19","slug":"tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","title":{"rendered":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Author:\u00a0Sara Okuoro<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong>\u00a0 China&#8217;s Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling handsets with pre-installed software that drains mobile data.<\/p>\n<p>Since releasing its first smartphone in 2014, the upstart has grown to become\u00a0Africa\u2019s top handset seller, beating out long-time market leaders such as Samsung and Nokia.<\/p>\n<p>Tecno Mobile dominates\u00a0Africa&#8217;s smartphone market\u00a0with a 41 per cent share, according to market research firm\u00a0IDC.\u00a0The malware that eats up mobile data and registers users to subscription services without authorisation was first detected in the smartphones sold in Africa two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The Triada malware has been discovered on Tecno W2 smartphones in countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa.\u00a0According to an investigation by Secure-D, a mobile security service, and BuzzFeed News, software embedded in the phones right out of the box was\u00a0draining users\u2019 data and money.<\/p>\n<p>Their investigations showed that some of the Tecno W2 smartphones were infected with xHelper and Triada, malware that secretly downloaded apps and attempted to subscribe users to paid services without their knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Secure-D\u2019s system, which mobile carriers use to protect their networks and customers against fraudulent transactions, blocked 844,000 transactions connected to preinstalled malware on Transsion phones between March and December 2019<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-group readmore my-3\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the report published this week in partnership with BuzzFeed, Secure-D said it recorded 19.2 million suspicious transactions since March 2019 from over 200,000 unique devices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The fact that the malware arrives pre-installed on handsets that are bought in their millions by typically low-income households tells you everything you need to know about what the industry is currently up against,&#8221; said Secure-D\u2019s Managing Director, Geoffrey Cleaves.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This particular threat\u00a0takes advantage of those most vulnerable,&#8221; he added.\u00a0In a statement to CNN Business, Tecno Mobile said the problem &#8220;was an old and solved mobile security issue globally&#8221; for which it issued a fix in March 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers currently experiencing difficulties should download the fix through their phones or contact after sales support, it added.<\/p>\n<p>A Transsion spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that some of the company&#8217;s Tecno W2 phones contained the hidden Triada and xHelper programs, blaming an unidentified \u201cvendor in the supply chain process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have always attached great importance to consumers\u2019 data security and product safety,\u201d they said. \u201cEvery single software installed on each device runs through a series of rigorous security checks, such as our own security scan platform, Google Play Protect, GMS BTS, and VirusTotal test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson said Transsion did not profit from the malware, and they declined to say how many handsets were infected.\u00a0Secure-D has continued to block transactions related to Triada and xHelper on Transsion phones into April 2020, though at a lower volume than before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough xHelper appears to have entered a dormant stage, we have no reason to believe it&#8217;s gone away,\u201d said Secure-D\u2019s MD Geoffrey Cleaves. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to believe that the perpetrators behind that malware are just going to give up.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve got this extremely virulent malware sleeping on millions of devices, and it\u2019s just a matter of time before they strike again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author:\u00a0Sara Okuoro AfricaPress-Kenya:\u00a0 China&#8217;s Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling handsets with pre-installed software that drains mobile data. Since releasing its first smartphone in 2014, the upstart has grown to become\u00a0Africa\u2019s top handset seller, beating out long-time market leaders such as Samsung and Nokia. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[5429,5428,5425,5427,5426],"class_list":["post-13494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-smartphones","tag-tecno-mobile","tag-tecno-w2","tag-triada","tag-xhelper"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"China&#039;s Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"China&#039;s Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\"},\"wordCount\":527,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Smartphones\",\"Tecno Mobile\",\"Tecno W2\",\"Triada\",\"xHelper\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\",\"name\":\"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"China's Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg\",\"width\":534,\"height\":404},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware - kenya","description":"China's Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware","og_description":"China's Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":534,"height":404,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware","datePublished":"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware"},"wordCount":527,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg","keywords":["Smartphones","Tecno Mobile","Tecno W2","Triada","xHelper"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware","name":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-28T19:18:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-28T19:33:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"China's Transsion Holdings, the firm that makes Tecno and other low priced smartphones has been accused of selling","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/08\/firm_sold_phones_wit5f48e5a699b78.jpg","width":534,"height":404},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/tecno-sold-thousands-of-phones-with-malware#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tecno sold thousands of phones with malware"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}