The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday ordered Taiwan Mobile to recall all of its self-branded, China-made smartphones after the phones’ built-in software was found to contain a malicious program exploitable by scammers.
The telecom in April 2018 launched the Amazing A32 smartphone, which was manufactured in China, to encourage 3G users to upgrade to 4G, the commission said.
The phone cost NT$1,990 (US$70 at the current exchange rate).
Photo courtesy of the National Communications Commission
The telecom sold about 90,000 units of the model before it stopped offering them in July last year, NCC data showed.
As of Dec. 20, about 7,600 Taiwan Mobile subscribers were still using the smartphone, while the remainder of the buyers had migrated to other carriers or bought new smartphones, the commission said.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau last year informed the ministry of the information security breach, NCC Deputy Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said, adding that the commission had also received five complaints from service subscribers.
The bureau’s investigation found that the implanted program enabled scammers to obtain subscribers’ phone numbers, which they then used to open accounts for mobile game apps.
The apps would send the Taiwan Mobile subscribers a text message with a verification code, which the malicious program would also send to the scammers.
After the scammers finished registering on the mobile game apps, the text message would be automatically deleted from the subscribers’ phones. All of this would proceed without the subscribers’ knowledge.
The company should recall the smartphones “as soon as possible,” Wong said, without specifying a time frame.
The recall would allow subscribers to request a software update or a partial refund, Wong added.
Taiwan Mobile has set up a customer service hotline (0809-000-852) to answer questions from all Amazing A32 users, including those who have switched to other carriers.
Failure to address the problem could constitute a breach of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法) and the telecom could face a fine of up to NT$1 million, Wong said, adding that the company could be fined until the issue is resolved.
To protect people from information security breaches on mobile phones manufactured in China, telecoms can only sell self-branded mobile phones manufactured in China after they obtain information security certification from the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards, he said.
The telecoms must sign an affidavit saying that they would enforce remedial measures to address security breaches caused by preinstalled software on the phones, he added.
The commission would randomly check the top 10 models in Taiwan and mobile phones made in China to ensure that they meet national information security standards, Wong said, adding that telecoms and manufacturers that fail annual inspections would be required to resolve the issues immediately.
The commission already required mobile phone manufacturers to sign an affidavit guaranteeing that phones would not show Taiwan as being part of China after software updates, the ministry said.
Contravening the regulation would keep the commission from certifying a smartphone’s specifications, which manufacturers need to sell products in Taiwan, it added.
A debt dispute between a restaurant owner and a criminal ring might be behind a bizarre cockroach attack at the Taipei eatery on Monday night while it was hosting a police gathering, Taipei Police Commissioner Chen Jia-chang (陳嘉昌) said yesterday. Preliminary findings of a police investigation into the case at the G House Taipei suggest that the unusual incident might have been directed at the restaurant’s owner, who allegedly owes money to the Bamboo Union, Chen said. The suspects were Bamboo Union members and there was no evidence indicating that the cockroaches were targeted at the police officers at the restaurant, he
Taiwan’s armed forces should closely monitor China’s development of a new tanker aircraft, as it would significantly boost the Chinese air force’s capability to carry out long-range raids, a military expert said on Wednesday. Ou Si-fu (歐錫富), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said in an online article that China is developing a tanker variant of its Y-20 military transport aircraft, known as the Y-20U. The Y-20 has a maximum take-off weight of 220 tonnes and the tanker variant is expected to carry up to 60 tonnes of fuel, more than three times the maximum
QUARANTINE BLUNDER: The government should be responsible for a cluster infection at a hotel, as the cases have caused panic, DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen said The Ministry of Transportation and Communications should make it mandatory for pilots and flight attendants, as well as their family members, to be vaccinated in view of a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, lawmakers said at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday. The cluster infection at the hotel had led to 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, including hotel workers, as well as China Airlines flight and cabin crew, and their family members. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday tightened quarantine requirements for pilots and flight attendants, who must quarantine
TRAVELING WHILE CONTAGIOUS: The highest risk of infection is indoors, especially in settings where people take off their masks to eat and drink, an expert warned The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday posted a list of places visited by people who were recently diagnosed with COVID-19 while they were likely contagious, urging people who visited the sites at the same time to practice self-health management. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that confirmed case No. 1,129 — a woman in her 60s who works at Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, a designated quarantine facility, and tested positive on Friday — visited Chiayi between Friday last week and Monday. On the first day of her trip, she visited the Big Chiayi
RSS