Google, with the participation of Japanese police, disabled a backdoor in devices made by Chinese manufacturer Videostrong

Backdoor disabled, botnet dismantled

Japanese police reported that Google disabled a backdoor that turned 1.3 million internet-connected devices made by a Chinese manufacturer into residential proxies and infected them with malware. As The Japan Times reports, citing the police, Google said on Tuesday that last week, together with Japan's National Police Agency and other partners, it dismantled the backdoor and the network of infected devices — a botnet created by the Shenzhen-based company Videostrong.

What was affected and how the scheme worked

According to Google, the affected devices included Android TV boxes, karaoke machines and other Android devices used for telemedicine services and digital advertising. The company said the malware had been embedded directly into many device models and brands over several years and was supported by dedicated infrastructure with constantly changing configurations to evade detection. In Google's view, the backdoor was 'deliberately developed, deployed and exploited for financial gain.' Videostrong, the company claims, sold criminals access to the devices and helped install malware, allowing the operators to take screenshots, log keystrokes and steal account and device data.

How the case came to light and the scale of the residential proxy problem

The case came to light in September 2025, when Fukuoka police investigating an unauthorized online transfer discovered infected devices. The cybercrime unit then traced their production and sales to Videostrong and notified Google. In July, the National Police Agency warned that smart TVs, routers and other connected devices could be hijacked as residential proxies, and urged consumers to avoid unverified apps, free VPNs and streaming services, as well as offers to share internet traffic for payment. The agency linked residential proxies to 1,918 unauthorized bank transfers in 2024, with losses of about 2.89 billion yen ($18.3 million). According to an estimate by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, tens of thousands of such devices are active in the country. Residential proxies route internet traffic through home connections, allowing cybercriminals to hide their identity during malicious activity or personal data theft.