New York – Apple’s IOS App Store Suffers First Major Attack

    1

    New York – Apple Inc said on Sunday it is cleaning up its iOS App Store to remove malicious iPhone and iPad programs identified in the first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The company disclosed the effort after several cyber security firms reported finding a malicious program dubbed XcodeGhost that was embedded in hundreds of legitimate apps.

    It is the first reported case of large numbers of malicious software programs making their way past Apple’s stringent app review process. Prior to this attack, a total of just five malicious apps had ever been found in the App Store, according to cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc .

    The hackers embedded the malicious code in these apps by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted, counterfeit version of Apple’s software for creating iOS and Mac apps, which is known as Xcode, Apple said.

    “We’ve removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software,” Apple spokeswoman Christine Monaghan said in an email. “We are working with the developers to make sure they’re using the proper version of Xcode to rebuild their apps.”

    She did not say what steps iPhone and iPad users could take to determine whether their devices were infected.

    Palo Alto Networks Director of Threat Intelligence Ryan Olson said the malware had limited functionality and his firm had uncovered no examples of data theft or other harm as a result of the attack.

    Still, he said it was “a pretty big deal” because it showed that the App Store could be compromised if hackers infected machines of software developers writing legitimate apps. Other attackers may copy that approach, which is hard to defend against, he said.

    “Developers are now a huge target,” he said.

    Researchers said infected apps included Tencent Holdings Ltd’s <0700.HK> popular mobile chat app WeChat, car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi and a music app from Internet portal NetEase Inc.

    The tainted version of Xcode was downloaded from a server in China that developers may have used because it allowed for faster downloads than using Apple’s U.S. servers, Olson said.

    Chinese security firm Qihoo360 Technology Co said on its blog that it had uncovered 344 apps tainted with XcodeGhost.

    Apple declined to say how many apps it had uncovered.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    1 Comment
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    lazerx
    lazerx
    8 years ago

    unbelievable that today we have to worry not only about local robbers and thieves, but also from those who live in foreign countries who are able to sneak into our phones and computers and steal our credit card info and use it to steal money (and more like identity) from us.