The smartphone market, like any other, is constantly moving and seething. Sometimes this turbulence throws up new technologies or just new smartphones. But often it is something from the very bottom. Something dirty, nasty, and something that no one wants to touch. I'm talking about gossip, rumors and scandals. Especially those related to user data leaks. The fact that users trust companies, but do not receive security guarantees in return. The most interesting thing is that manufacturing companies hardly suffer from this. They just say that “yes, it happened” and that's it. For some time the share price falls, but after a couple of months everything stabilizes and the boiler rages on. What's the matter? Why does it end so easy for companies?
No one will be happy that their data is leaked to the side.
Data leak Xiaomi
Not so long ago there was a scandal that Xiaomi spied on users so much that the incognito mode in the browser did not even help. She still collected information and perfectly understood what you use and where you go. Deja when it comes to sites for adults. Especially when it comes to them.
Industry analyst service Strategy Analytics reports that the smartphone industry has shrunk by 17 percent. Of course, the Xiaomi scandal didn't have a big impact on the numbers. Furthermore! It is the only company that not only did not reduce shipments, but also increased them. Compared to Samsung, Huawei and other companies, the trend Xiaomi looks even positive. The manufacturer is gradually taking market share from its competitors. This way Xiaomi gets a larger piece of shrinking cake. Is there any justice in this?
It turns out that the company not only tracks user data and their habits, but also shares data with Chinese companies such as Alibaba. In addition to the fact that this is bad in itself, the company also shares data in an almost unencrypted form. It's one thing when data is collected anonymously, for example, to analyze the health of a device or the operation of an application for tracking Covid-19 patients, but this is completely different. Formally, the data is encrypted, but the encryption is so low and there is so much metadata that it will not be difficult to establish the true identity of the user.
Many people love these smartphones.
Xiaomi has already patched the browser and denied the accusations of experts and journalists. However, the main damage has already been done and now hundreds of thousands of people associate the company with a 'data protection problem'.
Why Xiaomi will benefit from the scandal
The problem is that the scandal is mostly blown up in European countries, in particular in Germany. But there Xiaomi is not so popular and many of those who read all this, not only did not intend to buy devices of this brand, but did not even hear about them.
On the other hand, the problem concerns only the built-in browser, which is not used by many smartphone owners. Much more people choose the installed Google Chrome or any other browser out of the box. Against this background, the fact that the company was lit up in a scandal, in any case, is an advertisement. As you know, bad advertising does not happen, and Xiaomi really only benefits from the current state of affairs.
You might even wonder what these leaks are. A security breach? Wanting to cash in on users? Or maybe it's just a smart move by PR people? Here everyone will decide for himself, but more than one option cannot be ruled out.
Almost everyone had data breach scandals. For example, OnePlus, Zoom and even monsters like Apple. However, in the case of the American company, users were mostly to blame for this themselves. But Facebook drops data every six months. Against this background, “holes” Xiaomi are almost nothing.
These manufacturers also missed user data, but by accident.
How to make your phone secure
We can say for sure that in the current situation, when the entire market is already falling, the appearance of a protected browser at one of the manufacturers will greatly change the state of affairs. Moreover, downloading a third-party secure browser is not a problem at all.
Precisely because users, if they want more security, are already used to leaks. By and large, such leaks occur every day to users Android – smartphones when Google tracks their behavioral factors.
If there was a leak that led to a real loss of user money (at least thousands of users), then it would be a completely different story. Then, very few people would agree to continue using the devices of this brand.
All that needs to be done now is to enable the user to control all the processes that take place inside the chips and applications. It is clear that everyone needs information about us, but we need to collect it somehow differently.