Apple has removed some applications from its App Store after developers in China were tricked into using software tools that added malicious code in an unusual security breach.
Apple gave no details of which companies were affected.
However, Tencent Holdings (騰訊) said that its popular WeChat (微信) app was affected and that it had released a new version after spotting the malicious code.
Chinese news reports said others affected included banks, an airline and a popular music service.
The malicious code spread through a counterfeit version of Apple’s Xcode tools used to create apps for its iPhones and iPads, according to the company.
It said the counterfeit tools spread when developers obtained them from “untrusted sources” rather than directly from Apple.
The malicious software collects information from infected devices and uploads it to outside servers, according to Palo Alto Networks, a US-based security firm.
It was first publicized last week by security researchers at Alibaba Group Holding (阿里巴巴), the e-commerce giant, who dubbed it XcodeGhost.
The creators of the malware took advantage of public frustration with Beijing’s Internet filters, which hamper access to foreign Web sites. That prompts some people to use copies of foreign software or documents that are posted on Web sites within China to speed up access.
“Sometimes network speeds are very slow when downloading large files from Apple’s servers,’’ wrote Claud Xiao, a Palo Alto Networks researcher, on its Web site.
Due to the large size of the Xcode file, “some Chinese developers choose to download the package from other sources or get copies from colleagues,” he said.
So far about 40 apps with malicious code made it into the App Store, Palo Alto Networks researchers said.
The list includes some of the most popular apps in China, like the taxi-hailing app Didi Kuaidi (滴滴打車), as well as Citic Industrial Bank (中信銀行), China Southern Airlines (中國南方航空) and the music service of NetEase (網易), a popular Web portal, according to the Yangcheng Evening News.
Many of the apps are popular elsewhere as well, like WeChat, which has about 500 million users, and the business card scanner CamCard.
The bad versions of Xcode were all on a cloud hosting service owned by Chinese Internet company Baidu (百度).
Baidu has removed them, Palo Alto Networks’ Ryan Olson said.
Researchers said only the most recent versions of the apps created with the counterfeit version of Xcode were at risk.
The bad Xcode was available only to those developers who had disabled Apple’s safety features.
Otherwise, Apple would have presented a warning that something was wrong with Xcode, Olson said.
The incident is only the sixth time malicious software is known to have made it through Apple’s screening process for products on its App Store, according to Xiao.
Additional reporting by NY Times News Service
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS