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VirginMedia distributing viruses!

Lil-Squabbit
Up to speed

As the title says.

VirginMedia are now distributing malicious malware/ viruses via their Telly Tablets. The viruses in question are:

  • COM.WAGD.SMARTER
  • COM.WAGD.XIAOAN
  • COM.WAGD.GEM

Apparently, this is due to an infection on one of their update servers which hard codes the malware into the system software. This means that even if you do a hard reset on the device, the malicious products will be reinstalled too.

What are VirginMedia doing about this as I am sure we cant be the only people that are having this issue.

This is worrying that a major broadband supplier is letting these malware/viruses run rampant through their products. Bad form VirginMedia, bad form!

What are you going to do about this? 

...........................................................................................................
Lil-Squabbit is soooooo NOT amused!!!!
193 REPLIES 193


@Flashman68 wrote:

You have to manually uninstall all the infected apps (gem, smart, xioan etc.). Then go to developer options, go to running services and stop system updates. Also make sure you delete history and clear cache on any browser you're using. This is just a workaround until Virgin sort it out.


How does one do all this and does it prevent them reinstalling because I assumed that the malware was encoded into the core software on the tablet? Even when i do the 'boot into restore mode holding the power and the up key' the menu is in Chinese so I have no idea what im doing...

What I should see in the system menu

Screenshot_20210411-113032_Chrome.jpg

 what I DO see... 

IMG_20210406_195449.png

 pretty sure this ain't normal 🤣

 

...........................................................................................................
Lil-Squabbit is soooooo NOT amused!!!!

First thing to do is disconnect your WiFi.

Go to Apps and delete all the suspect apps (gem, smart etc).

Clear your browser history and clear the cache. The best way is to go: Settings >storage>internal shared storage>cached data>OK

To activate developer options, go into Settings>About tablet.

Click on "Build number" several times until it says " you are now a developer".

Now, in settings it says "Developer options" just above "About Tablet".

Go into Developer options and turn it on at the top.

Next, turn off "Automatic System Updates".

Then go into "Running Services". Click on "System updates" and click any button that says "stop". 

This will stop the apps from reinstalling. 

I also force stopped Google Play Store in apps just to be sure.

I'm aware this is a pain,but it does work and took me ages to work out. 

A couple of other things;

1. If you reboot the tablet, the dodgy apps will reinstall and you'll have to do all this again.

2. To perform any updates after doing this, you have to do it manually in Google Play Store.

Just go into My Apps and Games and update all. After you've done it, go back to developer options >running services and stop updates again. Like I said, a big pain, but until Virgin fix it, it's all we've got!

 

Thankyou flashman68

Thankyou for the workaround, At least it makes the tablet usable again and until there is a permanent fix this seems to work.

Thanks

 

 

Virgin will just have hoped that no one who speaks English would ever need to recover the tablet. It's basically a cheap Chinese tablet at it's core. The recovery setting is the one that ends "eMMC". It didn't work though and the apps still reinstalled. Virgin need to fix this and get a proper system update sent out. Like you said though, don't hold your breath.

I followed flashman68's advice and things initially looked good

 

Unfortunately after a hour or so of using the tablet, the pop-ups came back and the tablet downloaded a unwanted app.

This malware is so embedded within the system it seems nothing will remove it.

 

I don't know why? I've been using mine for the last few days and had nothing.  I've stopped auto updates in developer options (both places), and disabled play store. Worth a try.

 

  • Gem
  • Smart 
  • Xiaoan 
  • asenf 
  • Tayase
  • com.yhn4621.ujm0317
  • com.wagd.smarter 
  • com.wagd.xiaoan

These are the apps you're looking for. Make sure they're all uninstalled before trying anything else.

I will try again

Maybe there was something I missed

It was all trial and error for me. The thing I initially missed, was to turn off Automatic System Updates in Developer options before going into running services and stopping Auto updates. It just kept reinstalling the apps.

Virgin really need to fix this though anyway.

Gigaset whose Android phones were hit in the same Malware attack are now sending a fix out:

 

https://latesthackingnews.com/2021/04/12/hackers-deploy-malware-to-gigaset-android-phones-with-malic...

 

It would be good if Virgin could update us, have they even acknowledged the problem at all?