The article reports on a team of cybersecurity experts who discovered malware in Pinduoduo's shopping app, which allows the company to access users' personal information without their consent. The team found that the company had exploited internet-related security vulnerabilities and was able to change system settings and access users' social network accounts and chats.
The article states that Pinduoduo issued a new update of its app, version 6.50.0, which removed the exploits, but some experts believe that the underlying code could be reactivated to carry out attacks.
Tech policy experts say that the discovery is embarrassing for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates the industry in China, as they should have detected such malware.
The article also notes that Pinduoduo did not appear on any of the lists published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology or the Cyberspace Administration of China, which are supposed to name and shame apps found to have undermined user privacy or other rights.
Some cybersecurity experts have questioned why regulators haven't taken action against Pinduoduo, citing their lack of understanding of coding and programming, as well as technology.
The article concludes by noting that CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China for comment, but no response was available at the time of publication.
The article states that Pinduoduo issued a new update of its app, version 6.50.0, which removed the exploits, but some experts believe that the underlying code could be reactivated to carry out attacks.
Tech policy experts say that the discovery is embarrassing for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates the industry in China, as they should have detected such malware.
The article also notes that Pinduoduo did not appear on any of the lists published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology or the Cyberspace Administration of China, which are supposed to name and shame apps found to have undermined user privacy or other rights.
Some cybersecurity experts have questioned why regulators haven't taken action against Pinduoduo, citing their lack of understanding of coding and programming, as well as technology.
The article concludes by noting that CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China for comment, but no response was available at the time of publication.
this is just getting crazy what's going on with these Chinese companies? I mean I know they're one of the biggest e-commerce players in the world, but come on! Pinduoduo can't even get its own app right 
and now it's out that they've been exploiting users' personal info without consent? That's just messed up. And the fact that regulators are all like "huh, we didn't know that" is just not good enough 
I mean, shouldn't they be paying attention to these things? It's like they're just leaving it up to the cybersecurity experts to figure everything out 
and honestly, it's a bit of a slap in the face for users who are trusting them with their info.
and now tech experts are all like where's the ministry? shouldn't they be on top of this kinda thing? 
but at the same time, i get why they might not have caught it before - cybersecurity is a wild game 
and we need people who actually understand that stuff to regulate these companies. what's gonna happen next? will pinduoduo just fix their own problems or are we gonna see some actual action from the gov? 
.
they think pinduoduo's maliciousness is a huge issue but like whats the point of havin an app that lets u buy/sell stuff online? its just a platform, not a personal invasion tool 
i mean who wants their personal info being accessed by a company without their consent? 
it's like they're playing with users' data like it's nothing! and yeah i know the new update removed the exploits but what if those 'vulnerable' parts get reactivated again? 
i've been using pinduoduo for ages but now i'm like super cautious 
just saw this news about Pinduoduo's shopping app having malware that lets them snoop on users' info without asking