2018–2019 Malware injection — 20M+ phones infected
Data compromised
Device compromise; ad fraud; user data at risk
Technical writeup
Chinese court found Gionee guilty of intentionally infecting over 20 million smartphones with malware. Trojan distributed through 'Story Lock Screen' app update. Four employees of Gionee subsidiary sentenced to 3–3.5 years. Scheme generated ~$4.25M via fraudulent ad clicks. Earlier (2014): DeathRing malware pre-installed on new Gionee phones.
Root cause
Intentional malware injection by company insiders; supply chain compromise.