2016 China Internet Counterfeit App Landscape Report

Based on Alibaba's security team data collected from January to August 2016, 240 popular Android applications across 16 industry categories were examined for counterfeit versions, revealing that 83% of these apps had counterfeit copies, totaling 8,267 counterfeit instances and affecting 67.9 million devices.

The social networking category accounted for the highest number of counterfeit apps (4,096, 49.5% of the total), followed by the telecommunications category (14.2%). Over half (57%) of the counterfeit apps exhibited malicious behaviors such as rogue actions, unauthorized charging, SMS hijacking, or privacy theft, with SMS hijacking posing the greatest risk.

In the financial sector, bank-related counterfeit apps comprised 58% of the counterfeit apps, representing a major online fraud threat alongside phishing websites. Fake base stations were identified as the primary tool for spreading counterfeit banking apps and websites. In the telecom sector, the majority of counterfeit apps displayed malicious behavior, with SMS hijacking accounting for 72% of such activities; among the three major carriers, counterfeit versions of China Mobile’s mobile service app were the most prevalent, representing 84% of the counterfeit volume, often propagated via fake base stations.

The full 2016 China Internet Counterfeit Landscape Analysis Report is available for download as a PDF at the following link:

http://gw.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/TB1.NOBNpXXXXbtXVXXXXXXXXXX.pdf?spm=a1z3i.a4.0.0.hSmadL&file=TB1.NOBNpXXXXbtXVXXXXXXXXXX.pdf