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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

Come on Virgin Media, eight pages long thread and more people showing the issues are ongoing. Something needs to be done about this. Surely someone in your company is trained to deal with these kind of situations?

Ignoring this will only escalate the situation when someone gets their financials stolen. 

Help us please before its to late. 

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

This problem, for me anyway has made the tablet next to useless. At the time when I first noticed the malware, I also had my Facebook account hacked and my eBay and Amazon accounts looked compromised, which resulted in me closing down accounts, changing passwords and deleting everything on my tablet. Fortunately in my case, I don't think any lasting damage occurred. So far, most people have  reported just the unwanted apps and browser redirections, but I think the problem could potentially get worse. I do think this malware has the potential to steal info from accounts and that is why I have deleted everything on this tablet.

As lil-squabitt has pointed out it will be only a matter of time that someone will have very serious problems on a telly tablet that has the virus and not had its owner's accounts deleted.

What I do find difficult to understand though, is virgins silence, they at least should be warning owner's of telly tablets, about this, and giving relevant and upto date advice on the problem and telling us what they plan to do.

As mentioned before a software fix seems the most likely form of  getting things sorted. lets hope they get this sorted soon.

In the meantime, I am left without a tablet, which did work fine met my needs and was used everyday. 

The dilemma now is:  Do I wait on virgin for a fix? Do I try to flash the tablet and install a workable OS? Or do I buy a new tablet? On this last point I can't find anywhere that sells a 14" tablet that looks anywhere as good as what I have now.

Josie62
Tuning in

I agree with both Lil Squabbit and Tigratone's last comments. 

These short term fixes are too technical for me - I would be worried I'd muck it up and make matters worse as I don't know what I'm doing. And then to have to go through the same process every time you turn the machine on - its a complete nightmare. How can people who paid Virgin in good faith for these tablets be expected to accept this? It is unworkable. I dread it every time I switch the tablet on as to what I'll find. I have lost data having to keep doing factory resets. I'm worried about copying downloaded data files elsewhere in case I end up spreading the virus. 

Why on earth is there no input from Virgin on this as to what they propose to do to rectify this problem? Virgin Media has been doing very well financially recently. They are happy to take our money for these tablets, now they should take some responsibility for resolving these issues. I bought this product in good faith and cannot afford to buy a new one. 

Again, PLEASE CAN VIRGIN HELP TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE?

 

Unfortunately, that's one of the problems with this particular virus/malware. 

Because it's infected the systemupdate app - it can't be removed via a normal virus scan. 

We really do need Virgin to push out a fix that replaces the infected files.  😞 

I've escalated this thread as it appears to have been missed by the Forum Team.  Normally it can take up to 7 days to respond though.

Tim

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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ravenstar68
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Kev_B @ModTeam 

I escalated this yesterday as it was first logged more than 9 days ago at the time.  Yet still no one is addressing the issue.

Tim

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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I think it was referred to the security team via another thread, but I've not seen an update. 

It would be helpful if we had one post we could refer back to. 

 

My worry is - a lot of ppl are turning off the updates and won't get a fix it it is released - we need to know when they release an update. 

Or, if it's a case of "sorry you're out of warranty" then we can decide what to do with the infected kit. (I know one customer is considering a legal route).  

Kev_B
Community Manager (Retired)
Community Manager (Retired)

Hi,

I'm really sorry that we don't have any further updates on this yet. Please be assured we're working to get to the bottom of the issue and we'll provide a further update once we have information to share.

Kev

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HughJarsse
Knows their stuff

Ahh, the good old stock 'cut and paste' 

Hi,

I'm really sorry that we don't have any further updates on this yet. Please be assured we're working to get to the bottom of the issue and we'll provide a further update once we have information to share.

In other words, a year from now, they won't have done anything, and they will still be using the same old cut and paste reply....

There is a number of threads where this has happened before, (see this one, started in July 2020, and STILL they are saying the same old thing)

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-Mobile/Issues-receiving-OTP-text-messages-Santander/td-p...

There has been NOTHING done since it was reported, and yet there are STILL paying customers who are being treated as  'wages providers', no more and no less,.and VM are not interested. 

This problem with the telly tablets won't be sorted, because VM already have their hands in your bank account, and their wages are assured, so there is no incentive for them to do anything, other than repeatedly post the usual 'cut and paste'  shown above, ad nauseum.....

You have been warned, don't bother getting your hopes up, because there will be no 'fix' this year, that's for  sure!!  🤡


@Kev_B wrote:

Hi,

I'm really sorry that we don't have any further updates on this yet. Please be assured we're working to get to the bottom of the issue and we'll provide a further update once we have information to share.


The term "further updates" suggests that there have been previous replies on this issue, which I can't seem to find anywhere on the forum.

I'd appreciate it If anyone can point me to where these earlier replies/updates can be found.




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