The article reports on the discovery of malware in Pinduoduo's shopping app, which allowed unauthorized access to users' personal data, including locations, contacts, calendars, notifications, and social media accounts. The team of engineers and product managers responsible for developing the exploits were disbanded after they removed the malware from their code.
The article highlights several issues with the regulation of Pinduoduo:
1. Lack of oversight: Despite being a major player in China's e-commerce market, Pinduoduo was not subject to regular inspections by regulators.
2. Failure to detect malware: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is responsible for regulating apps in China, did not detect the malware despite having lists of apps that are removed from app stores for failing to comply with regulations.
3. Lack of understanding among regulators: Some cybersecurity experts have questioned why regulators have not taken action against Pinduoduo, citing a lack of understanding among regulators about coding and programming.
The article also highlights concerns about the security of Pinduoduo's app, including:
1. Invasive permissions: The malware requested a large number of permissions beyond the normal functions of a shopping app, which is unusual for an app of its type.
2. Exploits: The malware exploited internet-related security vulnerabilities to access users' personal data.
3. Removal of exploits: After being discovered, Pinduoduo removed the malware from their code, but some experts have raised concerns that this may not have been sufficient.
Overall, the article suggests that Pinduoduo's failure to detect and remove the malware highlights a lack of oversight and regulation in China's tech industry.
The article highlights several issues with the regulation of Pinduoduo:
1. Lack of oversight: Despite being a major player in China's e-commerce market, Pinduoduo was not subject to regular inspections by regulators.
2. Failure to detect malware: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is responsible for regulating apps in China, did not detect the malware despite having lists of apps that are removed from app stores for failing to comply with regulations.
3. Lack of understanding among regulators: Some cybersecurity experts have questioned why regulators have not taken action against Pinduoduo, citing a lack of understanding among regulators about coding and programming.
The article also highlights concerns about the security of Pinduoduo's app, including:
1. Invasive permissions: The malware requested a large number of permissions beyond the normal functions of a shopping app, which is unusual for an app of its type.
2. Exploits: The malware exploited internet-related security vulnerabilities to access users' personal data.
3. Removal of exploits: After being discovered, Pinduoduo removed the malware from their code, but some experts have raised concerns that this may not have been sufficient.
Overall, the article suggests that Pinduoduo's failure to detect and remove the malware highlights a lack of oversight and regulation in China's tech industry.
! They just discovered some crazy malware that let people access users' personal data 
. Like, what were they thinking? How did this even happen? 
It's not like it was a one-time mistake, either - this was an intentional piece of code written by their team of engineers and product managers 
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. I mean, you'd think they'd be keeping an eye on major players like them 
. And even though the Ministry of Industry and Info Tech said they didn't detect the malware, it's still super suspicious that it was able to fly under the radar for so long 
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- like, a shopping app shouldn't be requesting access to your location, contacts, or social media accounts 
. And have you heard that some of their security experts thought removing the malware from their code wasn't enough? 
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. We need better oversight and regulation to keep users safe 
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! I mean, who requests permission to access your location, contacts, calendars, and social media accounts? 
. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but it seems like there's a huge knowledge gap between the people who regulate tech and those who actually know how coding works 
. I mean, we all know about the great Facebook data scandal, but this Pinduoduo malware situation is just as bad, if not worse 
u guys r like "what did we do wrong?" but honestly who's watching? 
i mean pinduoduo is like the ultimate e-commerce king in china but hasnt been held accountable for this malware mess...like what even are they doing behind the scenes? 
and these regulators? not a clue 
I just don't get why there isn't more pressure on them to get their act together when it comes to security.
It's like they're saying "oh, we'll figure it out eventually" which just isn't good enough. We need stronger rules in place to protect us online. This is just too scary! 
like, how can pinduoduo just waltz in without any oversight? 
. i think we're seeing more and more stories like this, where tech companies are prioritizing growth over security 
. it's time for some serious reforms, imo 
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. And now Pinduoduo is trying to sweep it under the rug by removing the malware 
I'm so worried about my data on Pinduoduo's app! I mean, who gives the developers full access to our location, contacts, calendars... everything? 
and it's wild how they got away with it for so long... I mean, who gets to use like 50+ permissions from a basic shopping app?! 
. You'd think they'd be more on top of these things, especially since Pinduoduo's one of China's biggest e-commerce players 
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their shopping app is supposed to be about buying stuff not spying on users 
and the fact that they didn't detect malware themselves is super suspicious 
i think regulators need to do better job of keeping an eye on these tech giants 
But let's be real, this should've never happened in the first place... 
