Red alert: Apple and Xiaomi phones have spyware inside — Taiwan

While the two names are hardly out of the news headlines, Apple and Xiaomi are back on the big screen and this time both the big Apple and the “Apple of China” (Xiaomi) are in a hot mess in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese National Communications Commission (NCC), on the weekend, said it have found spware in phones of 12 different brands, citing that these devices “register with their company’s server” on users’ data, files and other personal stuff.

None of the 12 names were mentioned except Apple and Xiaomi but the regulator has promised to announce the names of the others with time.

The new line of drama started when a legislator in Taiwan Chiu Chih-Wei accused Xiaomi of abusing security of user’s devices earlier in the week. “Because there are no restrictions, the government could end up using Xiaomi phones,” he said.

This is not the first time Apple and Xiaomi are called up for spying user-data. In August, it was reported that China banned Apple phones from their government house following reasons linked to breach of trust. Xiaomi on the other hand, has witnessed a torrent of questioning by security firms in several country’s following transfer of data to their Mi Cloud from people’s phones.