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WhatвЂ™s the craic? Guilherme Rambo canвЂ™t quite believe his eyes: Mac App Store apps caught stealing and uploading browser history: When you give an app access to your home directory on macOS, even if itвЂ™s an app from the Mac App Store, you should think twice. Not to mention: Top 5 DJ MistakesВ вЂ¦ Anti-malware apps were вЂ¦ malware?

Your humble blogwatcherВ curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. But how on earth could it happen? In this weekвЂ™s SecurityВ Blogwatch, weвЂ™re bang on Trend.

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And the security companyвЂ™s public statements covered the full gamut of aggressive denials, sorry-not-sorry вЂњapologies,вЂќ and a full-on mea culpa. ItвЂ™s alleged that several of its consumer macOS apps have been collecting personal data without permission-or at least, without informed consent. Yet with AppleвЂ™s attention squarely on iOS, weвЂ™re not getting our hopes up.Trend Micro is facing fierce criticism this week. With AppleвЂ™s renewed focus on the App Store in MacOS Mojave, we can only hope it takes back responsibility for cleaning up its mess. According to Malwarebytes, itвЂ™s sometimes вЂњtaken as long as six months for a reported app to be removed.вЂќ

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Malwarebytes has been looking into that issue for years and reporting the appearance of junk software in Mac App Store. If Apple could fall for that, what else mightвЂ™ve pass by undiscovered? Not only did Apple approve an unsafe app, it approved it masquerading under the name of a proper app. Trend MicroвЂ™s app was then removed, only to be re-accepted as Adware Doctor. Malwarebytes said it has вЂњtaken as long as six months for a reported app to be removed.вЂќДЄs it turns out, Adware Doctor was first accepted by Apple under the name of Adware Medic, which just happened to share its name with AdwareMedic app, a legitimate piece of software run by Malwarebytes. ItвЂ™s not hard to imagine why people would trust an app with such a high profile. It was listed with endless five-star reviews, which were no doubt fake. As ThreatPost points out, the app was listed in the number four spot in the вЂњTop PaidвЂќ app list, right behind first-party software like Final Cut Pro. According to him, Apple had been alerted about the suspicious app a month ago, and at the time of going public with his findings, had failed to take action.ДЄdware Doctor wasnвЂ™t just a small app that snuck through the fence. The data theft was noted first by Patrick Wardle, founder of Mac security company Objective-See. The real problem is AppleвЂ™s failure to quickly remove the app. ThatвЂ™s something every software company in the world deals with. That flies in the face of AppleвЂ™s own data privacy policies.

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The app was able to pass through the security controls of MacOS undetected, pull sensitive browsing history data, and download it as a zip archive. The app requests access to several questionable functions, though because of the trust people have put in the highly-rated app, they often approve the access.ДЄdware Doctor was in the number four spot in the вЂњTop PaidвЂќ app list, right behind first-party software like Final Cut Pro. As reported by ThreatPost, an app called Adware Doctor has been copying peopleвЂ™s browsing history from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, and sending it off to a China-based domain, for currently unknown purposes. Much of the iOS App StoreвЂ™s credibility has carried over to the Mac App Store, but apparently, itвЂ™s not deserved. ItвЂ™s a stark contrast from the Google Play store, which isnвЂ™t nearly as rigorous.

If you can download an app on your iPhone, it can be trusted. Each app available on iOS has an implied seal of approval from Apple. The success of the iPhone has a lot to do with the app storeвЂ™s curation.

PeopleвЂ™s trust in Apple has left them vulnerable, and itвЂ™s time Apple addressed it. Users had no reason to suspect the apps were malicious. These apps were supposedly vetted by Apple, and were popular, frequently-downloaded apps on the Mac App Store. ItвЂ™s become a matter of security.ДЄ string of recent reports has shown certain apps in the Mac App Store were stealing data without user knowledge. Mac fans havenвЂ™t felt the love from Apple lately, but the problems go beyond a lack of new products. (in)Secure is a weekly column that dives into the rapidly escalating topic of cybersecurity.

Dr.cleaner for mac not working in us