Huawei phones are flagging Google apps as Trojan malware, saying that the app was detected sending SMS privately, enticing users to pay with adult content, downloading/installing apps privately, or stealing private information, which may cause property damage and privacy leakage.

I’m seeing a lot of reports from users of Huawei and Honor devices have reported that their phones are incorrectly identifying Google apps as Trojan malware, specifically labeled as TrojanSMS-PA. According to the alert, this “malicious software” has the ability to send SMS messages without user consent.

  • Dojan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I mean, Google most certainly is spyware so I don’t see how it’s wrong.

    • Joncash2@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Of course. That’s because you blindly believe the country that wiretaps it’s allies, like Merkle in Germany. That spies on its citizens using systems like Prism. Arrests journalists who report this like Assange. Yeah, those guys are totally who you should believe. And no, Huawei still hasn’t had any evidence against them, only conjecture from that country.

      And I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to call me naive and that Huawei definitely does it. But yes go on trusting the country with a laundry list of violations.

      • Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        So you are saying that Huawei is better than Google, because Huawei has less suspicion about it than the US government, because we should not conflate a company from a country with the government og that country?

        While you are conflating Google and the US government without even so much as acknowledging that?

        If we are being fair, we must accept both the USA and China have the means to get data out of their companies, and have done so frequently. If we thus compare either Google and Huawei or USA and China, in both cases we can make out the shinier turd of the two clearly.

        Now can we go back to hating both of them please?

        • Joncash2@lemmy.mlEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          I’m saying that the only hate for Huawei comes from the US government. Who constantly lies. So using their lies to form an opinion on Huawei is idiotic… I didn’t actually bring google into this at all.

          • Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            I have seen plenty of independent hate, and my hown hate has certainly developed independently too.
            Even in politics other countries have come to the same conclusion, some of which even against US influence, while certainly others where pulled along by them.

            Also did you notice that you jsut assumed I was completely influenced by the US, as in that you hold the innate belief that everyone who disagrees on this must obviously be doing so because they fell victim to their propaganda?

            I didn’t actually bring google into this at all.

            I’d trust a Huawei phone less than I would a Google phone. Much less.

            [your comment]

            • Joncash2@lemmy.mlEnglish
              0·
              2 years ago

              Yeah a lot of people are influenced by US propaganda. That shouldn’t be surprising. However, let’s look at what experts in other countries that are not America say.

              https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-europe-britain/britain-managing-huawei-risks-has-no-evidence-of-spying-official-idUSKCN1Q91PM

              https://phys.org/news/2018-12-evidence-huawei-spying-german-watchdog.html

              But those voices are drowned out because, well US propaganda is very powerful. So much so that yeah, it influences individuals.

              *Edit: And yes, US propaganda is so powerful it goes well beyond it’s borders affecting individuals in other nations as well. I’m not asking you to believe me, I’m asking you to question where you got those opinions from.

              • Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                0·
                2 years ago

                First of, your articles are about telco hardware, not smartphones software.

                The german case basically boils down to Germany wanting independence in their critical infrastructure. At least officially this is so China can’t affect them by for example stopping exports of repair components. Basically your source is clickbait but without the release. »German governments information security branch says no evidence of Huawei spying … they say the boycott happened because of strategic resource independence in networking technology«

                The space of classical newspaper articles is not in a good state, basically it’s almost entirely propagandized to death. So you need to know your sources, please don’t be the one throwing around a phys.org article on politics like it’s credible information.

                source on the Germany thing

                I could clear up this case because I happen to know that “die Zeit” (German for “the Time”) is one of the few remaining relatively independent sources for stuff relating to Germany (they are biased to follow German politics in coverage but not content, currently). I also track them closely for any changes to that status, basically if they fall to anyones propaganda, the first ones to bring that to light and point it out will be the opposing propaganda. Here is their article, for your translators pleasure:
                https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2023-03/5g-ausbau-bundesregierung-verbot-huawei

                ⁤
                your source kinda goes into that direction at the end at least

                But some observers raised eyebrows at the BSI’s apparent dismissal of cyber security risks concerning Huawei.

                “I believe it’s wrong to suggest that the concerns about Chinese espionage are unfounded and easy to detect,” telecom security expert Ronja Kniep told AFP.

                “Even if Huawei has no official relationship with the Chinese government, that doesn’t mean Chinese services aren’t using the company and its technology as vehicles for espionage.”

                All three of Germany’s main mobile network operators use infrastructure provided by Huawei, Spiegel pointed out.

                So apparently the opinion of “the BSI” here is wildly out of line with Germany’s government’s general opinion at the time.

                but wait there’s more

                So apparently in Germany there is this “BSI-gate” of sorts, around the incompetence and potential Russian and Chinese relations of “Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Arne Schoenbohm” (as he is quoted in your source).
                So either way this person was extremely untrustworthy in this matter here.

                ⁤

                So now to the other source. Reuters is at least well known, and the article has an author, so that’s nice.

                I looked into the matter somewhat. Around the same date as your article, the BBC wrote

                To monitor the company, the UK set up the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre, which comes under the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

                In March 2019, it said it hadn’t found evidence of malicious Chinese state activity, but it did identify some serious defects in Huawei’s software engineering and cyber-security competence.

                Seems they harshened their stance after US influence around 2020 to me too, but it’s not like they where entirely unsuspicious before that influence either.

                • Joncash2@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  0·
                  2 years ago

                  Right so no evidence, just suspicion from the US was enough for them to harden their stance.

                  Your “rebuttals” doesn’t change any facts on the ground.