Alibaba’s UC Browser Could Be Leaking Million Of Users Data

By | May 28, 2015


Alibaba's UC Browser Could Be Leaking Million Of Users DataPlain text is not a way to go.

Just over a year ago, Alibaba has acquired UCWeb, a company behind UC Browser, which has a mind boggling user base of 500 million and more than 100 million active daily users.

However, as it turns out, there is a pretty serious “flaw” (or lazy design), which would allow anyone to identify your phone number, search queries, location and the device itself. What do we mean by saying lazy design? Well, it’s not exactly a security vulnerability as the only issue with UC Browser is that it does not encrypt traffic, which could allow your network operator or in-path actor on the network to access your data.

The report comes from CitizenLab, which tested UC Browser for Android in both English (10.4.1.565) and Chinese (10.2.1.161) versions of the said software.

Alibaba's UC Browser Could Be Leaking Million Of Users Data

Data sent in plain text

Alibaba's UC Browser Could Be Leaking Million Of Users Data

Data obtained about the user using UC Browser

For a bunch of creepy screenshots, head over to the source below.

[Via: CitizenLab]


About (Author Profile)


Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism career back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

Comments (1)

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  1. motang says:

    I never tursted this browser, and looks like I wasn’t wrong!