The social media world has watched a big wave from the Umbrella Revolution from Hong Kong recently. The situation is getting more and more complicated. Thousands of protesters have been protesting on the street for a few days and the Chinese government has done all they can to prevent the protest goes further.
On 1st Oct, all the news wrote about a new virus attacked all iPhones and iPad users. South China Morning Post wrote: “Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a computer virus that spies on Apple’s IOS operating system for the iPhone and the iPad, and they believe it was targeted pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.”
It is still unclear how hackers used the virus on iOS to get information for users, specially the protesters and who behind this event is still unknown, but the code used to control that server is written in Chinese.
Not very long time ago, Hong Kongers were waiting in line to get iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in early September. However, with this security problem, Apple would face a strong drop out in sales and serious lost brand image and customers’ loyalty. There is no record about virus attacked on other mobile devices and tablets from different brands. How can Apple face this issue? This is not the first time Apple is in trouble with hackers and virus. Apple customers from different countries also concern about their personal information, especially when Google recently was also a victim of hackers (5 millions Gmail passwords leaked).
In addition, Google can be used in China. They even blocked Instagram so all digital social apps can’t access to Chinese people in this country. Some banks and businesses are temporary close in Hong Kong. The protest seems to grow bigger and bigger. Big brands from foreign countries, especially Western countries must face some issue locally and hopefully there will be a solution for all of us in the near future. Please leave your comments below and share your thoughts. How would these giant companies facing problem at Hong Kong and China at the moment? Closing business temporary, is that the way out?
Sources:
http://www.vocativ.com/world/china/hong-kong-protesters-virus/
https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/25184543/now-i-get-it-umbrella-revolution/
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It appears that Apple’s failing left, right and centre – and they’re responding poorly by barely responding to these matter (or at least based on recent articles I’ve read). What was the original purpose of the hack anyway? If they’re targeting pro-democracy protestors in HK, could it be the government responsible for that? It’s pure speculation, but if that’s the case, and it’s discovered, they’ll face major repercussions from their citizens.
Also, I’m almost positive Google is still blocked in China (unless there’s been a recent change), which is why the country uses Baidu as their search engine.
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Thanks for your comment Marshall. In this blog post, I think we should only discuss about Marketing matters and businesses. So there is unclear reason why only Apple devices are affected by virus and hackers but I guess Apple should pay strong attention about this because Hong Kong is a dynamic market in Asia region. Not only Hong Kongers buy Apple products but also people from other Asian countries travel to Hong Kong to buy Apple products for maybe retails purpose, or personal uses at better price. Losing this market? Is it worth to lose?
Google and Instagram are other 2 giant in technology industry and social networks industry but they are blocked so far and yes, I believe in China they have their own search engine too.
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I believe the virus will only come in if consumers manually install infected software from untrusted source (aka jail break), thus infesting their phone. Some of the most dangerous Trojan viruses provide remote access to one’s computer from other computers. This opens up the possibility for anything to happen to anyone and their computers – such as having personal and credit card information stolen…. No surprise the HK protest went on for a few days…
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Thanks for your comment Elizabeth. I agree that there are some insecure apps that customers download is the reason that the virus spread. However, Apple also should consider their product and security problem. Have you ever heard about Jailbreak on HTC, Sony, Samsung? Only on Apple products. Why customers have to do so? That’s maybe a problem that Apple should find the answer and improve their quality of product as well as understand what its customers really want and need.
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