Cyber-security researchers at Israeli firm AppSec Labs have discovered a flaw in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)’s site code. AppSec founder Erez Metula told the Associated Press that the vulnerability could have allowed hackers to hijack merchant accounts. It put personal information of millions of registered users on risk.
Alibaba fixes the vulnerabilities
Metula said Tuesday that the weakness was discovered by Barak Tawily, a 21-year old employee at AppSec. If you want to buy a $600 smartphone, you could change the price to a dollar and purchase it. Security experts said they could see what a person has bought. In fact, you could change the shipping address so that the goods are delivered to you.
Just a few days ago, Internet security firm Cybermoon also discovered a flaw in Alibaba’s website that compromised users’ personal data. The Chinese company fixed it after Cybermoon founder Amitay Dan alerted Alibaba. Molly Morgan, a spokesperson for the Hangzhou-based company, said that the e-commerce giant had fixed both “potential vulnerabilities.
Alibaba operates Tmall and Taobao online platforms in China that have about 84% share in Chinese e-commerce market. After raising $25 billion in its IPO, the company is expanding in entertainment, healthcare, travel booking and online insurance. Alibaba is also looking for ways to bring its smartphone operating system YunOS to the mainstream. Analysts expect the company to partner with or acquire a smartphone vendor like Xiaomi and Coolpad.
Alibaba deepening relationship with Apple
Moreover, the Chinese company has been in talks with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for a potential collaboration in payment processing. China Daily reported Wednesday that the two companies have started coming together. Alibaba’s Alipay will allow users to authenticate their accounts with the fingerprint sensor on iPhones, rather than a password. Alipay has more than 300 million active users in China. Alipay has released an updated version of its iOS app to allow the fingerprint authentication.
Alibaba share fell 1.37% to $106.01 in early trading Wednesday.
