The Indian entertainment platform Chingari has clarified there is no threat to security for its subscribers after malware was spotted by researcher Robert Baptiste on the website of the app's incubation company, Globussoft.
Company co-founder Sumit Ghosh stated that the Globussoft website and Chingari app have different security and engineering teams. At the same time, Ghosh acknowledged the malware attack, saying the issue will be fixed soon.
“Thanks for pointing the wp issue to me, Chingari was incubated under Globussoft and built by us, the security of Chingari app/website and our users is not compromised by any of this. It is securely stored on dedicated and secure AWS instances. We will fix the wp issue soon", said Ghosh.
The malware on the website was spotted by French security researcher Baptiste, who goes by pseudonym Elliot Alderson on Twitter. He stated that the “so-called Indian TikTok alternative” has been compromised.
The website of Globussoft, the company behind #Chingari, the so-called Indian #TikTok alternative, has been compromised. The malicious drop[.]dontstopthismusics[.]com/drop.js script has been inserted to all the webpages pic.twitter.com/JO2lj4Jido
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 1, 2020
However, Chingari confirmed it is unrelated to Globussoft as the two use different technologies.
Globussoft Technologies was the business incubator for the app that launched in 2018. Incubator companies provide management training or infrastructure to startups to develop services.
Chingari witnessed a huge upsurge in app downloads, hitting 5 million subscribers on 1 July. As of 2 July, Chingari is trending in the number two spot on the Google Play store's social category in India.
In an unprecedented move, the Indian government last week banned 59 Chinese apps, including short-video making application TikTok, citing security concerns.
