Trend Micro apps on the Mac App Store also spy on users

Apple often boasts of human retention applications that go into its Mac and iOS call stores as the best way to prevent the Cambridge Analytica scandal on Facebook from happening. He also praises the efficiency and accuracy of this method compared to automated systems such as Google. These arguments, however, may have fallen flat on their faces when a number of popular apps on the Mac App Store behaved like spyware. Including those of a company supposed to protect users against malware.

Of course, this is not the first time that malicious software pretending to be malware can end up in application stores. The irony of the situation is almost laughable if it is for the real potential for harm. Especially when the poorly designed application comes from a security company like Trend Micro. In addition, some claim that such companies are in any case in step with the malware industry.

WIRED reported a few days ago that a premium paid application on the Mac App Store, called "Adware Doctor," was collecting user browsing history and other behind-the-scenes information. After the news exploded, Apple clinched the offending application. It turns out, however, that the user of Twitter @ privacyis1st reported the problem last August, without Cupertino taking any action.

But that does not stop there. 9to5Mac now indicates that other applications of this type continue to be released on the Mac App Store, including those of "Trend Micro Inc", such as Dr. Unarchiver, Dr. Cleaner, Open Any Files: RAR Support, etc. Without an official statement from the software security team, there is no way to confirm or disprove the fact that these applications come from the publisher.

Admittedly, these applications will not be able to do anything without the interaction of the user. The problem is that they do not say what they are really going to do. Dr. Unarchiver, for example, will offer to clean up unnecessary files, but when users allow the application to do so, it will do more. Much more. It will retrieve the browsing history of Safari, Chrome and Firefox, create a list of applications installed on the Mac, store Google search history and send all those files to the publisher's server, probably to Trend Micro.

And like Adware Doctor, this is not exactly the news and has been reported and discussed since the end of 2017. No action has yet been taken, but Apple's QA team should have taken this unwanted behavior. Or if the malicious applications are not from Trend Micro, they should have been able to check it too. Especially if the business is not a new small business or an independent developer.