A Chinese manufacturer secretly turned 1.3 million Android set-top boxes into a botnet for malicious activity, prompting Google to ban the company and remove the backdoor.
AI-generated summary. Check the original reporting for context and accuracy.
This is the available feed excerpt, which may be shortened or in the publisher’s original language.
Google says one of its Android manufacturing partners secretly built a backdoor in 1.3 million devices and turned them into a botnet. The company says it has now dismantled the backdoor and "cut ties" with the manufacturer, the Shenzhen, China-based Videostrong Technology Co., which has been banned from building or selling certified Android devices or supplying software for them. The infected devices were used without owners' knowledge for "malicious activity," like ad fraud, data exfiltration, and routing unauthorized network traffic. Google claims the "backdoor and botnet were intentionally developed, deployed, and operated for financial … Read the full story at The Verge.
An automated sorting aid based on source trust, keywords, and entities, on a scale of 1–12. High: 9–12; medium: 6–8; low: 1–5. It does not measure urgency, verify reporting, or indicate editorial endorsement.
Burgas is offering a $25 discount on phone accessory orders over $50, making it a timely opportunity to save on cases, bands, and power banks.
Meta ending Quest 2 updates in 2027 forces VR users to upgrade to newer headsets, signaling the end of the device's lifecycle and shifting the market baseline.
Google banned a partner for secretly turning 1.3 million Android TV boxes into a botnet, highlighting severe supply chain security risks for consumers.