Security Assessment Forms Now Required For App Publishers in China

By Todd KuhnsLast Updated on Oct 31, 2019
Security Assessment Forms Now Required For App Publishers in China

Recently, the major Chinese app stores have started to request app developers and publishers complete a Security Assessment Form in order to publish or update apps on their platforms.

The form comes from the government, so it is standardized across all app stores. Its purpose is to ensure that app publishers have a plan in place for dealing with security issues on their platforms and are able to log and provide information to the authorities when appropriate.

It’s important to understand that, in China, app stores are held partially liable for the apps that they host for download. So they are obligated to make sure your team has clear policies and procedures for handling these issues.

Specifically, you are asked to provide the following information:

  • The structure of your app’s internal management team that handles internet safety (the employees who are responsible for reviewing user posted content and how this process is reviewed and approved by your internal team).
  • How you verify users’ real identity and your retention measures for the registration information.
  • How you collect daily user information, including user account information, user sessions, user IP addresses (TCP/IP configurations), port settings, user hardware info, and other info sent by the user’s device.
  • Your measures for the prevention, handling, and record retention of illegal and harmful information in the name, nickname, introduction, remarks, identification, information posts, re-posts, and comments by users.
  • Your technical measures for protecting personal information and preventing the transmission & dissemination of illegal & harmful information.
  • Your complaint and offense reporting system, and whether you have published information about the complaint and offense reporting methods. 
  • How you ensure you can accept and handle complaints and reports in a timely manner.
  • Your working mechanism to provide information such as conversation content, user names and IP addresses to the authorities if it is ever required by law.

This is really not as daunting as it first appears. AppInChina clients can fill in the Security Assessment form on our client dashboard, where we provide adequate explanatory text and sample answers. As always, your personal account manager is always available for one-on-one consultation and assistance. We will then submit this information to the National Internet Security Management Platform on your behalf. 

Founded in Beijing in July 2013, AppInChina makes it as easy as possible for foreign app publishers to succeed in the Chinese marketplace. Because Google services are inaccessible in China, we help our clients access the 1.1 billion Android users who are not currently served by Google Play. Trusted by a growing number of the world’s most respected brands, our international, English-speaking team has become the market leader for localizing, distributing, monetizing, and promoting foreign Android apps and mobile games, which account for more than 70% of mobile device users in Mainland China.