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Maxthon Web Browser Sends Sensitive Data To China (securityweek.com)
Reader wiredmikey writes: Security experts have discovered that the Maxthon web browser collects sensitive information and sends it to a server in China. Researchers warn that the harvested data could be highly valuable for malicious actors. Researchers at Fidelis Cybersecurity and Poland-based Exatel recently found that Maxthon regularly sends a file named ueipdata.zip to a server in Beijing, China, via HTTP. Further analysis (PDF) revealed that ueipdata.zip contains an encrypted file named dat.txt. This file stores information on the operating system, CPU, ad blocker status, homepage URL, websites visited by the user (including online searches), and installed applications and their version number. Interestingly, In 2013, after the NSA surveillance scandal broke, the company boasted about its focus on privacy and security, and the use of strong encryption.
that a 'secure' browser developed IN china, sends user data back to china.
Security researchers discovered that a Chinese developed web browser you've probably never heard of that claims to have great security actually sends all kinds of personal information about your PC and web searches to a site in Beijing. Also, other Chinese developed web browsers that claim to have great security may do similar things.
the company boasted about its focus on [...] strong encryption.
Well... they are using encryption to send that data, apparently. Can't say they didn't warn ya.
Bitten Apples are still better than dirty Windows...
It is a very secure web browser. If you run that web browser, the Government of China feels far more secure.
You westerners look at everything backwards.
Security experts have discovered that the Maxthon web browser...
Hands up from anyone who actually has heard of this web browser prior to reading this article. Anyone?
(crickets)
That's what I thought...
So are you telling me Chrome/Chromium, Firefox, Safari, IE/Edge, Opera and Vivaldi won't send sensitive data to the UK or the USA? Aren't those 2 countries also know to perform indiscriminate, bulk data collections for law enforcement use, even if there's no warrant?
I doubt a Chinese citizen is gonna be using my sensitive data any different than any other countries'. You should be worried if you're a China national, or if your're traveling to China and you happen to be using that browser for your hardcore anti-commie endeavors. JUST LIKE IF TRAVELING TO THE US AND DOING STUFF THEY DON'T LIKE ON ANY BROWSER.
There is a limit to hypocrisy and bias. Stop being biased. I hate what is being done to Chinese people's liberties as much as the next guy, but who the fck cares about a detail that also happens to be true in all other instances.
Now, of course, Russia would be a whole 'nother story. They happen to be mining data like rabbits procreate. I would be worried about that. Am I also being biased now?
Firefox and Chromium* have a lot of forks, but I would advise against using them. Mozilla and Google have world-class security experts working for them, and when you use generic Firefox/Chrome, you get their security updates the moment they're released out, not when your fork-team's got around to setting them out.
Suppose you want to use Chromium as a base but are concerned about your privacy with respect to Google, so you don't want to use Chrome. That's perfectly understandable, but using Opera or Vivaldi or Maxthon instead is insanity, since they're all black boxes and you're not really sure what they're doing with your data (case in point, TFA). There's a 100% FLOSS fork of Chromium in the works called Iridium but I cannot recommend it yet because I don't know enough about the competency of their team, but it's definitely worth looking into. Until then, just use vanilla Chromium and rig your own auto-update system.
As for Firefox, there's a great extension called Privacy Settings that can optimize all your config flags for privacy (i.e. turn off telemetry, network prefetch, etc.) in just one click. I would recommend however that you keep dom.storage.enabled on, since a lot of websites are unusable without it. Also be wary that security.ssl.require_safe_negotiation needs to be toggled if you need to connect to an insecure website, such as the USPS's.
*For those unaware: Chromium is the base of Chrome. The only difference between them is that Chrome is shipped with an auto-updater and plugins for Flash and Widevine.
You're asking on Slashdot if anyone has heard of a browser that has been covered 5 times on slashdot before [slashdot.org] several of which were directly about that specific browser?
Wow, 5 whole articles over 12 years with most barely mentioning a browser that literally almost nobody uses. How did I ever miss that... [/sarcasm]