With news this week of malware infesting Apple mobile apps and a new mobile virus infecting Chinese users' smartphones, more scrutiny is being placed on Chinese technology firms to help protect netizens.
Tencent has taken the lead with the announcement of its Thunder Action. This is the company's special initiative against Internet phishing, pornography, and malicious information. Tencent formally launched the new campaign with partners like Didi, JD.com, 58.com, Dianping.com.
Zhu Jinsong, head of Tencent Thunder Action, said that this new campaign will use the resources and advantages of various technology companies to block mobile phone trojan viruses and safeguard users' payment payment security.
Zhu said mobile trojan text messages has become the latest method used by phishers. Criminals could pretend to be bank customer service representatives, courier customer service, or friends or families of users to lure them to click malicious links.
Statistics from Tencent's mobile security lab showed that during the first half of 2015, there were 29,762 new mobile payment trojans,which affected 11.5 million users. In June 2015, which was the peak time, an average of 68,000 users were attacked on a daily basis.
Zhu reminded netizens that to prevent trojan attacks, users need to install mobile phone security software; avoid clicking urls from unknown sources; avoid disclosing SMS verification codes; and confirm via phone calls before money transactions take place.