More Than A Million Cell Phones In China Infected By "Zombie" Virus
Software Architecture, DevOps & System Design
A Zombie virus has infected more than one million Chinese cell phones. It is a virus that continually sends out text messages. The virus lets hackers take control of the phone and hackers send spam texts to victims phone's entire address.
The 'zombie' virus which is very similar to the Troj/SymbSmsis, is hidden in a fake anti-virus app. Once installed, the virus sends all of the contact details on a user's SIM card to cybercriminals, who automatically take control the phone and send spam texts to friends and family. The texts are usually full of links that will infect others with the virus on clicking those suspicious links received in SMS.
The virus infected one million users by the end of the first week of September and has continued to grow since then. While China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Center is working to solve the problem, at the same time around 10 more similar viruses have appeared, making it difficult to track down the culprits.
To be on safe side I personaly advice everyone not to open suspicious links in text messages, even if they're from someone you know.
Sandeep Kumar
Founder & Software Architect | Author of “The Operational State Control Plane”
Electronics engineer, software architect, and author of The Operational State Control Plane. Specializing in system design, distributed resilience, and building scalable tech solutions with real-world engineering insights.