Slashdot Mirror
Tor Project: Fake Tor App Has Been In Apple's App Store For Months
itwbennett (1594911) writes "For the past several months Tor developers have unsuccessfully been trying to convince Apple to remove from its iOS App Store what they believe to be a fake and potentially malicious Tor Browser application. According to subsequent messages on the bug tracker, a complaint was filed with Apple on Dec. 26 with Apple reportedly responding on Jan. 3 saying it would give a chance to the app's developer to defend it. More than two months later, the Tor Browser app created by a developer named Ronen is available still in the App Store. The issue came into the public spotlight Wednesday when people involved in the Tor Project took to Twitter to make their concerns heard. Apple did not respond to IDG News Service's request for comment."
They took about 30 seconds to take down that breast feeding app (a BREAST!!!), but something so utterly evil like an app that promises anonymity and delivers spyware gets to live on for months? Sounds like Apple may have received a National Security letter about this fake Tor app (i.e. leave it alone!) and are playing dumb.
as much as "not an official release".
When you are working with something like the TOR network and you want to stay as secure and (hopefully) as safe as possible, you want everything to be officially released. If the browser bundle in the store is not official, you don't know *exactly* what is in it or if they added anything to it. That alone is scary. Especially if you know & trust the TOR project and expect the same from the app as you get from their other browser bundles.
"Fake" is definitely the wrong way to describe it ( if it actually does use TOR ), but it definitely makes a bigger impression than "unofficial".