A court in China recently released its verdict in a case against Chinese smartphone maker, Gionee. The court found Gionee guilty of intentionally planting a Trojan Horse virus via an app on more than 20 million devices between December 2018 and October 2019. The Trojan Horse was planted via a software update using “Story Lock Screen” app and was carried out by a subsidiary of Gionee, The Shenzen Zhipu Technology Co. Ltd. According to reports, the app was used to profit from users without the knowledge of the user. The company earned about $4 million between December 2018 and October 2019 from infecting 26,519,921 smartphones with the Trojan Horse virus.
The 4 defendants working with The Shenzen Zhipu Technology Co. Ltd. were found guilty and sentenced to 3 years in prison and a fine of $30,600 each.
