Apple removes malware-infected apps from its store – A large number of popular Chinese apps were affected by a security breach
Apple has pulled a large number of apps from its store after around 40 iOS apps were found to be infected with a modified version of the company developer software.
Christine Monaghan, an Apple spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company removed apps from the App Store that it knew were created with counterfeit software, with the ultimate goal of protecting its customers.
Palo Alto Networks last week reported a new malware, called XcodeGhost, that modified Xcode, the integrated development environment for creating apps for the Mac, iPhone and iPad.
The security firm said on Friday that it had found more than 39 apps, including many popular Chinese apps, infected with the malware. These include WeChat, a popular chat app from Tencent, Didi Chuxing, created by Uber, and business card scanner CamCard. Some of these apps are also used outside of China.
Tencent said in a blog post that the flaw only affects iOS version 6.2.5 and not newer versions of WeChat. It said the issue has been fixed and that a preliminary investigation confirmed that no user information or money was stolen or leaked.
Palo Alto is reportedly working closely with Apple on the breach and is urging all iOS developers to be aware and take the necessary security measures. XcodeGhost collects information and data from devices and uploads the data to command and control servers.
The malware, first reported on Chinese social networking site Sina Weibo, was later confirmed by Alibaba security researchers, according to reports. It is unclear how the apps managed to pass Apple's 'holy test'.
