Four in Prison for Mobile Malware Conspiracy
An Anonymous Coward writes:
In 2018 employees of two companies, Beijing Baice Technology and Shenzhen Zhipu Technology, planted malware on devices sold by Chinese smartphone maker Gionee with the intent to activate the software to take over user phones. The malware was in the form of an SDK wrapped up in an update to Story Lock Screen, a screen-locker app that came preinstalled with Gionee devices.
Court documents say that between December 2018 to October 2019, more than 20 million Gionee devices across the world received more than 2.88 billion "pull functions" (ads), generating more than 27.85 million Chinese yuan ($4.26 million) in profit for the two companies.
The four persons received prison sentences ranging from 3 to 3.5 years and fines of 200,000 Chinese yuan ($30,500) each. Shenzhen Zhipu Technology also received a separate fine of 400,000 Chinese yuan ($61,000).
Crime pays.
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