This law requires “telecommunications operators and internet service providers to ‘provide technical interfaces, decryption, and other technical support assistance to public security organs and state security organs conducting prevention and investigation of terrorist activities in accordance with law. On January 1st, 2016 China’s anti-terrorism law came into effect. The idea that the nation with the most restrictions on civil liberties and vast surveillance efforts is possibly involved with an app developer’s information collection is actually very feasible. ![]() TenCent did not respond to these queries. Although some problems were solved, others still remain.Ĭitizen Lab researcher, Ron Deibert, sent inquiries to TenCent about their data collection activity and whether these actions were done in support of nation state directives. These vulnerabilities were disclosed to TenCent Februand several updates to address these vulnerabilities were released March 2016. This weakness could allow threats to trick users into downloading malware on to their mobile devices. The collection of this information by TenCent is concerning especially with the lack of cybersecurity controls in place.Īnother problem is the fact that the update mechanism in the QQ browser is not secured. The collection of information using weak encryption or lack thereof can lead to spying by the user’s ISP, wireless network operator, mobile carrier, malicious actors, or a government agency. This transmission of data is all done without encryption or with weak encryption. The Windows version of QQ sends out the URLs of all visited webpages, the user’s hard drive serial number, MAC address, Windows hostname, and Windows user security identifier. The Android version of QQ shares “personally identifiable data, including a user’s search terms, the URLs of visited websites, nearby WiFi access points, and the user’s IMSI and IMEI identifiers, without encryption or with easily decrypted encryption.” What most people don’t know is that the mobile browser shares a large amount of personal information about the user, and the app also leaves the user open to malware that can be installed on their phones. QQ Browser, across its five versions (for Android, iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, and Java), has 16 million users around the world - outside of China - right now. The QQ mobile browser is available on both Android and Windows Mobile phones. Read more on our ethics page.Researchers at the Citizen Lab in the of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs have found several problems related to the use of Chinese Company TenCent’s QQ Mobile Browser. To give it a try, pick your OS of choice on the QQ Browser homepage.ĭisclosure: Tencent is an occasional advertiser on the site. ![]() Tencent is also hoping for a global success with its WeChat app, which has a fast-growing ratio of international users.īut there are plenty of other browsers to choose from in this crowded market, such as the China-made UC Browser, which has more global users - an impressive 40+ million - thus far. To push QQ Browser in the region, the company is not just relying on the main app stores, but is also partnering up with the likes of Getjar and Mobango. That's a testament to the power of Google’s mobile OS to pull in both high-end smartphone users and new feature phone converts - or Blackberry escapees. Tencent says that “Android will be the key platform, but others will also be important” for QQ Browser going forward. Tencent is eyeing Indonesia’s very young and mobile-loving populace with a couple of other products too: its WeChat messaging app, and the flirtatious Qute. QQ Browser already gained over two million Indonesian users since it launched in Indonesia last year. Indonesia is one of the most important for marketing QQ Browser.
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