The article discusses the discovery of malware in Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce company, that allowed it to access users' personal data without their consent. The malware was discovered by cybersecurity experts who found that Pinduoduo's app asked for excessive permissions and could access users' locations, contacts, calendars, notifications, and social network accounts.
The article notes that Pinduoduo has been able to grow its user base despite China's regulatory clampdown on Big Tech, which began in 2020. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has regularly published lists of apps found to have undermined user privacy or other rights, but Pinduoduo did not appear on any of the lists.
The article also suggests that regulators may be struggling to understand the technical details of malicious code, leading to oversight failures. One cybersecurity expert with 1.8 million followers wrote a post on Weibo criticizing regulators for their inability to understand coding and programming, which was censored the next day.
The article concludes by noting that Pinduoduo has disbanded the team of engineers and product managers who developed the malware and removed the exploits from its app. However, experts warn that the underlying code may still be present and could be reactivated to carry out attacks.
Key points:
* Pinduoduo's app contained malware that allowed it to access users' personal data without consent.
* The malware was discovered by cybersecurity experts who found excessive permissions in the app.
* Pinduoduo has been able to grow its user base despite China's regulatory clampdown on Big Tech.
* The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not find any issues with Pinduoduo's app, despite it asking for excessive permissions.
* Regulators may be struggling to understand technical details of malicious code, leading to oversight failures.
* Pinduoduo has disbanded the team that developed the malware and removed the exploits from its app.
The article notes that Pinduoduo has been able to grow its user base despite China's regulatory clampdown on Big Tech, which began in 2020. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has regularly published lists of apps found to have undermined user privacy or other rights, but Pinduoduo did not appear on any of the lists.
The article also suggests that regulators may be struggling to understand the technical details of malicious code, leading to oversight failures. One cybersecurity expert with 1.8 million followers wrote a post on Weibo criticizing regulators for their inability to understand coding and programming, which was censored the next day.
The article concludes by noting that Pinduoduo has disbanded the team of engineers and product managers who developed the malware and removed the exploits from its app. However, experts warn that the underlying code may still be present and could be reactivated to carry out attacks.
Key points:
* Pinduoduo's app contained malware that allowed it to access users' personal data without consent.
* The malware was discovered by cybersecurity experts who found excessive permissions in the app.
* Pinduoduo has been able to grow its user base despite China's regulatory clampdown on Big Tech.
* The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not find any issues with Pinduoduo's app, despite it asking for excessive permissions.
* Regulators may be struggling to understand technical details of malicious code, leading to oversight failures.
* Pinduoduo has disbanded the team that developed the malware and removed the exploits from its app.
. I mean, think about it - Pinduoduo's been flying under the radar so far, even when the regulators were supposed to be keeping an eye on it. Like, how did they manage that? 
And now we find out that their app had malware installed, and no one even noticed until some cybersecurity experts got wind of it. It's like, I get that tech companies are complex, but come on - shouldn't the regulators have picked up on this by now?
. That just doesn't add up. I mean, if an app can just sit there with malware installed and nobody knows about it, does that mean we're not doing enough to regulate the tech industry? Because if so, then we need to do something about it 
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. But let's be real - this is just the tip of the iceberg. We still have no idea if the underlying code was removed or not, so we need to keep an eye on this one 
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And let's not forget that they're already working on removing any remaining exploits from their app... that's some serious customer care right there! 
. We need more transparency and accountability from big tech companies like Pinduoduo, especially when it comes to user data 
. It's just not right that they got away with this for so long 
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Like, how does that even happen? And then when it gets exposed, they just get censored online and suddenly the problematic team is disbanded. 
That doesn't add up to me.
. How hard can it be to figure out what's going on with some malicious code? I'd think we've got better cybersecurity measures in place than that. 
regulators need to do better, maybe not everyone understands coding but it's still their job to keep us safe online... this is a wake-up call for all of us to be more careful about what apps we download and how much info we share 
like, what's going on in china that makes big tech companies think they're above the law? 
. it's high time someone called out the regulators for their lack of understanding when it comes to tech 
. we need more serious reforms to protect user privacy and prevent these kinds of breaches in the future 
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idk, but something needs to change ASAP 
... but instead of watching your neighbors, you're watching a company snoop on YOU without asking 
! I mean, who needs that kind of drama in their life? 
But seriously, it's not exactly surprising that Pinduoduo made the cut as one of China's most "user-friendly" apps... guess that's what they mean by "friend-first" approach 
. Anyway, hope they get their security act together before we all become victims of their sneaky app 
I'm like super concerned about this one. I mean, think about it - we're living in an age where apps can basically access everything on our phones without us even knowing 
. It's wild that Pinduoduo was able to get away with it for so long, and I'm not surprised they were able to grow their user base despite all the regulatory stuff going down in China 
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. We need to be careful about what we give out online and make sure our apps are doing what they say they're gonna do 
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. what's going on with regulators in china? can't they even keep up with some basic coding concepts 
. But we should still be vigilant – there's no guarantee this isn't just a temporary fix