Sim Restricted Alcatel
John
An unusually high number of transaction attempts encountered by Secure-D in Brazil and Malaysia coming from a series of Alcatel Android smartphone models Pixi 4 and A3 Max, led our analysts to investigate deeper. In doing so we identified that a pre-installed Weather forecast application, siphons a lot of data and attempts such transactions. The application package is com.tct.weather and comes from TCL Corporation, a Chinese tech firm known for making the Alcatel and Blackberry devices. It collects and transmits geographic locations, email addresses, IMEIs to a server in China and has a number of privacy invasive permissions on the device. The application is also available on the Google Play store and has more than 10m installs with a seemingly healthy 4.4 user rating. Had it not been blocked it would have succeeded to subscribe users on Alcatel phones in countries like Brazil, Malaysia and Nigeria to paid services for which users would have been billed more than $1.5 million. This activity occurred in the background and succeeded in remaining undetected by the users, behaving liek a typical malicious application. These findings further expand on the previously covered case of Gmobi, a provider of Firmware-Over-The-Air technology (FOTA) to mobile device manufacturers that also relied on their pre-installed application to attempt ad fraud and misuse personal information.
In the examples below ad-fraud is attempted by loading a page with ads and also programmatically generated clicks triggered the purchase of a paid subscription (the JokerVR service) and consequent charges to the airtime of the user.
In this 2nd example, the application went through multiple urls eventually redirecting it to the purchase page of a premium digital service available to subscribers of TIM Brazil (one of the largest mobile operators in Brazil). The SIM card on the device under investigation was one of TIM in Brazil.
While investigating the application we extracted the pre-installed apk file and analyzed the permissions it has access to, finding them to be misused and providing a seemingly simple Weather forecasting application with excessive permissions able to gather and transmit personal information from the user.
Not for use by third-party applications.The pre-installed and the downloadable on Google Play Store version of the com.tct.weather application require different Android permissions (capabilities or information that the application can access).
In Brazil, 2.5 million transaction attempts initiated from this Weather application on Alcatel devices were blocked in July and August 2018. Those 2.5 million transaction attempts to purchase a digital service originated from 128,845 unique mobile phone numbers.
Alcatel is a French brand of mobile handsets owned by Finnish consumer electronics company Nokia and used under license by Chinese electronics company TCL Corporation. On Google Play Store, the developer of Weather-Simple weather forecast appears under mie-alcatel.support, while TCL Communication Limited appears when looking at the privacy policy of the app. And when looking at the other Android applications offered by the mie-alcatel.support on Google Play Store, we can find the 4 applications below, one of them being called TCL Weather.
Secure-D combines machine learning algorithms with payment processing workflows to protect mobile operators and their subscribers against online transaction fraud and data depletion, caused by all types of malware and other online threats. The platform processes over 480 million transaction requests per month, has detected and blocked over 42,000 malicious apps and has identified more than 19 million infected smartphones around the globe.
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Many users prefer Alcatel phones due to their budget costs and reliable network services. However, on Alcatel phones, you can't use other networks, and it limits you only to use network services provided by the carrier. To get rid of this limitation and to use sim cards from other network providers, the only way is to unlock other networks on your phone. The advantage of an unlocked Alcatel phone is that it has more choices. You can easily change sim cards and get network plans for the best rates.
Another reason to unlock Alcatel phone is to increase your phone's resale value. If your phone is network unlocked, then you can sell it for a better price. Here is the deal, we will tell you the easiest ways to unlock your old and new Alcatel phone with step-by-step guides.
Although most of the new Alcatel phones are network unlocked, if your phone is carrier locked, you can easily unlock it with a code. The procedure is simple and doesn't require third-party devices or connections. You don't even need to contact any network provider because the process is simple. You can search for an Alcatel network unlock website on the web. The website will provide you with an Alcatel network key unlock code free, and with that code, you can use any carrier sim on your phone.
If you don't want to unlock your Alcatel phone, then make sure to get the right sim card with the best network prices when you buy the phone. A locked phone only allows service from one network. It means you can't use other network carriers. Although not all Alcatel phones are network locked. Only when you buy your phone from a mobile operator of a certain network provider do you get a locked phone. It limits you from using services from other network providers.
You don't need to spend much effort to unlock Alcatel because all you need is a code from the sim provider. Even without contacting the sim provider, there are other ways to get an unlock code instantly. Here are some benefits of an unlocked Alcatel phone.
You can unlock Alcatel phone with our three simple methods. All of these methods are guaranteed to work, so follow every step precisely. But before you try to unlock Alcatel network lock, you have to check whether it is actually locked or not. The process is very simple. Just insert a sim card from a different carrier and see if the phone asks for an unlock code.
The easiest method to unlock Alcatel network is with a network code that you enter with an unaccepted sim card. The Sim card you insert into the device can be from any carrier, and it doesn't matter if it's old or new. Getting the code is the most important step. Without a network code, you can't unlock Alcatel aside from rooting your device or using third-party devices and software. It depends on you where you want to get the network code. Many websites provide network codes, but most of them are paid. Here are the steps to unlock Alcatel network by inserting an unaccepted Sim card.
If you don't want to unlock an Alcatel phone with a network code, you can also get your phone unlocked by your network provider. All you need to do is contact the customer services of the new network provider. You can use any number to contact. After speaking with the provider, you can give your number, and the carrier employee will unlock your Alcatel device. Here is the step to contact your network provider.
If you don't want to pay to get a network code or wait after contacting customer service, this method is best for you. Although it only works with new Alcatel phones, if you don't want to get restricted with one carrier, then use this method. You don't need any sim card for this method. Follow these steps precisely to unlock Alcatel phone in three easy steps.
This concludes our guide to unlock Alcatel network. It would be best to unlock the network to use network services from different carriers on the same Alcatel device. You don't have to root or connect your phone with your computer to unlock Alcatel phone. You also don't need to contact your network provider. Not only that, but you can get the unlock code from any website and type the code after inserting the sim card. You only have to unlock your phone once, and it will remain unlocked even after software updates.
Tips: Struggling to unlock your Alcatel phone due to a forgotten password? Dr.Fone - Screen Unlock (Android) is your solution. With user-friendly features, it swiftly restores access to your device. Whether you're locked out or facing password amnesia, this tool ensures a quick and easy remedy, putting control back in your hands effortlessly. Unlock with confidence using Dr.Fone.
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