Criticism of Qihoo 360

Criticism of Qihoo 360 — BrandWiki

2013 dispute with "National Business Daily"

On February 26, 2013, "National Business Daily" (NBD) published articles titled "The Mystery of the 360 Black Box: Qihoo 360's 'Cancerous' Genes Exposed" and "360's Winning Secret: The Mysterious V3 Upgrade Mechanism." These articles claimed that when Qihoo 360 wanted to wage war against its competitors, it activated the "V3 mechanism," which involved using "360 Safeguard" and "360 Secure Browser" to secretly uninstall competitors' products from users' computers and install its own products, thereby capturing the market most conveniently. NBD also covered this in a special report on their website.[5]

On July 4, 2013, National Business Daily published another article claiming that 360 was uploading large amounts of sensitive user information, such as financial usernames and passwords, without the users' knowledge. The article also stated that this issue had caught the attention of a securities company, referred to as Company A.[6]

On December 30, 2013, 360 sued NBD for alleged false reporting and damage to its reputation, and the case was heard in the. 360 claimed that NBD had published anonymous, defamatory, and false reports that severely misrepresented facts, citing various rumors fabricated by 360's competitors, which misled and frightened readers. As a result, NBD's false news significantly harmed the reputation of 360 and its products. 360 requested the court to rule that NBD had severely infringed on their corporate reputation and sought 50 million yuan in damages.[7] During subsequent hearings, the Xuhui District People's Court ordered the two defendants (Chengdu National Business Daily Newspaper Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Jingwen Cultural Communication Co., Ltd.) to stop publishing any reports or comments related to 360's corporate or product image during the litigation period.

On September 19, 2014, NBD published articles such as "The Mystery of the 360 Black Box: Qihoo 360's 'Cancerous' Genes Exposed," which were found to be false and defamatory, misleading and frightening readers, and significantly damaging 360's reputation. The court ultimately ruled that NBD must compensate 360 for economic losses of 1.5 million yuan and publicly apologize to 360 for ten consecutive days.[8][9]

Browser Tool Disputes

Vulnerability Dispute

On August 1, 2012, users reported that the "Vulnerability Fix" feature in 360 Security Guard, labeled as KB360018, was not actually issued by Microsoft as claimed. This patch purportedly upgraded Internet Explorer 6 browsers to Internet Explorer 8 and optionally installed 360 Secure Browser.[24] 360 officials responded formally, acknowledging that KB360018 was indeed not an official Microsoft patch but a self-issued "pseudo-patch" intended to provide an upgrade solution for the IE6 engine.[4]

Security Dispute

On October 20, 2014, according to a report by GreatFire.org, the Great Firewall of China (GFW) was conducting a man-in-the-middle attack against Apple's iCloud using a fake security certificate. Users Man-in-the-middle attack or Mozilla Firefox were warned about the certificate's security, but 360 Browser did not provide such protection.[25]

360's official response disputed this report, stating that 360 Browser can identify fake certificates and display warning messages in the address bar and information bar.[26] However, it was pointed out that despite displaying warnings, 360 Browser still allowed the page to load, potentially leading to cookie leakage.[27]

Privacy and Cybersecurity Concerns

As early as 2010, 360's browser products were exposed for allegedly collecting sensitive user information without user consent, including usernames and passwords for websites.[28] Subsequently, 360's desktop browser products were again found by Baidu employees to be secretly gathering user data without user knowledge.[29] In the third quarter of 2017, 360's mobile browser product, Action Browser, was specifically criticized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China for infringing on personal privacy, stating that it collected personal information without user permission. This led to its inclusion in the ministry's app blacklist for that year.[30] However, concurrently, 360 Browser is also listed as a data source for the "Malicious Website Blacklist" maintained by the China Internet Emergency Response Center (CNCERT).[31]

Application down event

Apple App Store

First Removal

On the afternoon of February 6, 2012, all iOS applications from Qihoo 360 were removed from the App Store by Apple, without disclosing the reason for the removal.[32]

On February 7, 2012, Qihoo 360 issued a statement on Sina Weibo:

"We have received a reply from Apple: 360 products do not need to make any modifications and will be reinstated on the Apple App Store within the next 48 to 72 hours. The reason for this removal is that Apple found some products had manipulated reviews, resulting in abnormal user ratings and reviews. Apple conducted an investigation as usual. Due to all wireless products from 360 being under the same Apple account, this led to the removal of all products."[33][34]

On the morning of February 8, 2012, all Qihoo 360 products were reinstated on the App Store.[35]

Second App Store Removal

On the evening of January 25, 2013, most applications from Qihoo 360 on the Apple App Store were once again removed, leaving only 360 Cloud Drive [36] available for download.

By March 5, 2014, Qihoo 360's products were reinstated on the App Store.

First Removal

On the afternoon of February 6, 2012, all iOS applications from Qihoo 360 were removed from the App Store by Apple, without disclosing the reason for the removal.[32]

On February 7, 2012, Qihoo 360 issued a statement on Sina Weibo:

On the morning of February 8, 2012, all Qihoo 360 products were reinstated on the App Store.[35]

Second App Store Removal

On the evening of January 25, 2013, most applications from Qihoo 360 on the Apple App Store were once again removed, leaving only 360 Cloud Drive [36] available for download.

By March 5, 2014, Qihoo 360's products were reinstated on the App Store.

Xiaomi App Store

On April 28, 2013, Xiaomi removed 360 Mobile Security from the MIUI App Store because the app, without Xiaomi's knowledge, displayed phrases like "MIUI Warm Prompt" when prompting users to modify permissions, potentially causing user confusion.[37]
On September 27, 2013, Xiaomi delisted all 360 products from its app store. The reason cited was that 360 Mobile Assistant recommended users uninstall apps from other companies, including Xiaomi App Store and Baidu Maps, without providing any justification.[38]
On January 8, 2016, Xiaomi again removed all 360 products from its app store. This action was due to reports that some Xiaomi users were deceived by 360 Security Guard PC Edition through pop-ups and similar tactics into installing a software called "Thunder OS." This software altered MIUI system signatures without user consent, preventing Xiaomi phones from undergoing normal system upgrades. It also tampered with phone recovery, hindering users from uninstalling it, and causing system crashes that prevented startup.[39]

Other App Stores

In September 2013, besides Xiaomi, 360 Mobile Assistant also prompted users to uninstall built-in applications like official stores from Huawei, Samsung, BBK (Step High), Lenovo, and other mobile companies.[40][41] Subsequently, Huawei, Lenovo, Coolpad, OPPO, and several other companies confirmed that they would completely delist all 360 products from their respective app stores.[42]

Criticism of Qihoo 360

2010 backdoor scandal

2012 fake patch incident

2013 dispute with "National Business Daily"

2015 AV-Comparatives (AV-C) testing awards revocation

Malicious promotion

The "3Q War"

2012 criticism of involvement in the Great Firewall

2012 3B Incident

Misreporting Issues

Browser Tool Disputes

Vulnerability Dispute

Security Dispute

Privacy and Cybersecurity Concerns

Application down event

Apple App Store

First Removal

Second App Store Removal

First Removal

Second App Store Removal

Xiaomi App Store

Other App Stores

Waterdrop Live suspected privacy infringement

Video application suspected of widespread video theft

Sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Commerce

References