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Apple Yanks Top Mac App a Month After Learning it Sends User Info To China (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the security-fail dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: When a group of security researchers reported a popular but allegedly dangerous Mac App Store utility to Apple, noting that it secretly sends "highly sensitive user information" to an "unscrupulous" developer, Apple's response for a full month was surprising: "crickets." But after a cluster of bad press today, Apple finally pulled Yongming Zhang's app Adware Doctor: Anti Malware &Ad from the store.

Three researchers, including former NSA staffer Patrick Wardle, Thomas Reed of Malwarebytes, and "privacy fighter" @privacyis1st, said in a blog post today that they reported Adware Doctor last month for sending a user's Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and App Store browsing histories alongside lists of the Mac's apps and running processes to a server in China. Despite receiving confirmation that Apple received the report, the $5 app remained in the App Store -- where it was ranked the number one paid app across all Mac utilities.

8 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Top rated paid app?! by King_TJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The bizarre thing here, IMO, is that so many App Store users would select this totally unknown app as their pick to spend $5 on to protect their systems from malware or virus threats?

    1. Re:Top rated paid app?! by HumanEmulator · · Score: 2

      It seems pretty likely that non-Apple apps have such poor sales, that it's simply not that hard to climb the charts. The Mac App Store numbers look nothing like the iOS App Store numbers.

  2. Prime Example by DarkRookie · · Score: 2

    This is a prime example of an app store not being any better than downloading software off a random internet site.

    They pretty much have the same issues with this.
    So them toting security and protection are lies.

    Unless they are personal inspecting each and every apps source code.

    --
    The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
  3. Who's watching the watcher? by MJhasHIV · · Score: 2, Insightful

    China.

  4. Re:Apple 3 by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    My wife has an app business, and we have sent many emails back and forth to Apple's support staff. A 30 day delay in response is fairly typical and marking a message "URGENT" makes no difference. They are just way understaffed and disorganized. No conspiracy theory is needed here.

  5. Fake Reviews by bogie · · Score: 2

    Almost certainly tons of fake reviews and possibly fake downloads where they use promo codes etc. I highly doubt so many Mac users are using this.
    Check this article out:
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/h...

    Fake reviews for products is a HUGE industry and almost certainly thousands of people in India got paid to astroturf this app to the top. Amazon is literally being crippled by fake reviews and dodgy products.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  6. "unscrupulous" developer by astrofurter · · Score: 2

    Thank goodness I don't use Apple products! I compute with confidence knowing that Big Brother Google, Faceboot, Ma Verizon, Red Fedora, Uncle Samsung, and my friendly neighborhood Gestapo office all use only the most *scrupulous* outsourced and H1-B indentured labor.

    Scrupulousity FTW!

  7. and there goes the theory by sad_ · · Score: 2

    so far for all those Apple folks claiming that the Play store is a minefield and that this problem doesn't excist on Apple devices.
    at least Google seems to be much quicker to react to such claims instead of waiting a month before removing said app (and then only because there was sudden negative press about it)

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.