VirginMedia distributing viruses!

[Lil-Squabbit]

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? 

[Tigratone]

Just found another strange thing happening.

When I run a virus check through different antivirus apps I can usually see the names of the apps/programs been tested. When a suspicious app turns up it is shown as a threat.

Well I ran a virus check and quite a few apps flashed up as been on the tablet but when I checked on the tablets app list from the settings menu, they were not shown as been on the tablet. So the antivirus saw them but they were somehow hidden from view 

The antivirus did not show these apps as a threat.

One such app was one called ducky, so I searched it within the tablet but there was no sign of it. So I searched for it on Google play and yes, there was a app by that name so I clicked on it. Surprisingly it did not give me the option of downloading the app but gave me the option of deleting it! So this app had been downloaded previously, but was not showing as a downloaded app within the settings option of the tablet. I then decided to delete it.

I went back to the virus scanner and ran a scan again, and this time the app was no longer showing. 

There were quite a few other apps that flashed up on the scan which were downloaded without my knowledge. The antivirus programme used was avast, but other antivirus programs had similar results 

It seems this malware is downloading apps from the app store, which are not showing in the apps list, but are in the tablets system somewhere 🤔 

[kokopelli]

It looks like this issue has fixed been fixed. Try reset the device and then run an update or if you don't want lose your information, then just run a system update.

That would be SETTINGS > ABOUT TABLET > SYSTEM UPDATES.

Some feedback would be nice.

[Tigratone]

Sorry did not work for me. I checked for system updates and got the message 

No new system updates found

[SalemsLady]

Same here, no updates to be found.

[Tigratone]

Out of interest kokopelli what is your build number?

This can be found on the updates page under the green label which says current version. Or alternatively can be found in settings under the heading, about tablet.

[MC001]

What leads you to think its been fixed? 

[Flashman68]

I can't see a system update. If you reset it'll update, but that's the suspect update that's giving everyone problems. What update version do you have that's new?

[UselessRobUK]

As far as I am aware the tablets where designed by a third party. Also as this is a software issue the company that designed them is not liable for replacements or repairs as it is the Software Providers issues (VM).

The other issue is that as all Virgin Media Telly Tablets are on Android 7.0 which also hasn't had a Security patch update for quite some time this leaves it vulnerable to virus attacks. Due to an update from VM sadly this has exposed one of these vulnerabilities. 

Also to clarify a comment I seen in an earlier post the Telly Tablets purchased are not sold this way with viruses pre-installed. If this was the case no one would have one.

Can anyone from Virgin Media advise on how they plan to resolve this issue 

[clarkey39]

•  

[UselessRobUK]

After being passed from piller to post on the phone then to be told basically that nothing will be done and nothing can be done by Virgin Media technical team. 

And to basically be made out to be a fool by being told that the updates are not done by the provider(s) when they are is extremely insulting. I have studied IT for years and have a vast amount of experience and qualifications. I have my own business and if I acted like this to one of my clients I'd loose business. 

Whether the tablets are out of warranty or not it is still the responsibility of Virgin Media as the software provider to maintain and service it. Exertis deal with the hardware side of it. As this is a software issue caused by VM it is their responsibility to fix it. 

For the amount of people having this issue it is absolutely appalling. 

I will not have my time wasted and be insulted when I know what I am talking about. It is not my problem if staff don't understand it and know what I'm talking about.