“A device manufacturer intentionally infecting their users with malware is an unacceptable breach of trust, and represents a serious risk to those users.”
Google says Videostrong, the company that built these boxes, shipped the malware and sold access to criminals. The infected boxes rented their owners’ home connections to residential proxy services. One of those services, Oxylabs, just raised $130 million at a $3.6 billion valuation. The factory was the attacker and the proxy business is the payday.