The IT Nerd

There’s an app on the Mac App Store called “Adware Doctor” which is the number one paid Utilities app has been found to be stealing a users browser history and sending it to China while supposedly keeping you save from pop-ups and adware. This first came to light via a Tweet from Privacy 1st:

Top Sold MacOS AppStore application is ROGUE. Adware Doctor is stealing your privacy. PoC: https://t.co/LmveX593q0#malware #virus #MacOS #Apple #MacBook #MacBookPro #CyberSecurity #privacy #GDPR #Hacking #hackers #cyberpunk #Alert

— Alex Kleber a.k.a Privacy 1st (@privacyis1st) August 20, 2018

Then noted security researcher Patrick Wardle looked into this and published his own findings which confirms what Privacy 1st found. And what’s scary about this is that as I type this, this app is still for sale on the App Store. But the real issue is this:

If Apple is really “review[ing] each app before it’s accepted by the store” … how were these grave (and obvious) violations of this application missed!? Who knows, and maybe this one just slipped though. Maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt, as yes we all make mistakes!

But this bring us to the next point. Apple also claims that “if there’s ever a problem with an app, Apple can quickly remove it from the store”. Maybe the key word here is “can”.

A full month ago, we reported our findings to Apple, which they acknowledged, and promised to investigate:

…since then, crickets! Which of course is incredible frustrating.

How can Apple, who boldly state that “Privacy to us is a human right…a civil liberty” not take action?

That’s a question that Apple needs to answer as this is a clear screw up on their part that they not only need to immediately address, but they need to explain how a situation like this will never happen again.

In the meantime, if you have installed this application, delete it. Like now. No seriously. Right now.

UPDATE: This just happened:

https://twitter.com/JohnPaczkowski/status/1038093200357904384

So it seems that Adware Doctor has been removed from the Mac App Store, along with the developer’s other app “AdBlock Master.” But there’s still no explanation as to how these apps got there in the first plac.e

This entry was posted on September 7, 2018 at 10:43 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.