South Korea blocks DeepSeek app over data privacy concerns
South Korea restricted or blocked the DeepSeek AI chatbot application, citing concerns about how the Chinese company collects and handles user data. The action raised questions about data transfers to China and security vulnerabilities in the app.
What happened
South Korea blocked or restricted the DeepSeek AI application over data privacy concerns related to how the Chinese company collects and manages user data.
Reported impact
The app collects a wide range of personal data and transmits it to domains linked to Chinese state entities, raising concerns about data sovereignty and national security.
Index analysis
Technical analysis identified significant security vulnerabilities in the DeepSeek Android app, including hardcoded encryption keys, weak cryptographic algorithms, and susceptibility to SQL injection attacks.
The application employs anti-debugging mechanisms to obstruct security analysis, behavior described as anomalous for a company claiming transparency.
Governance controls
DeepSeek suspended downloads of its app in South Korea to improve data protection, and withdrew its Android and iOS applications from the country.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.