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A number of applications on Apple's Mac App Store secretly collect user data and upload it to analytics servers.
Popular applications, including Dr. Unarchiver, Dr. Cleaner and others, distributed by the developer "Trend Micro, Inc." collect and download the user's browser history from Safari, Google Chrome and Firefox on their servers via access to the personal macOS directory.
These malicious applications will also collect data from other applications installed on the system, all bundled at launch, according to 9to5Mac. The problem was initially detected by a user on the Malwarebytes forum.
The reports were confirmed by 9to5Mac when, after downloading the
This included data from different browsers, separate files dedicated to recent Google searches, and a complete list of all the applications installed on the system (including code signatures, 64-bit compatible, and download location information). ).
At the time of the investigation, Dr. Unarchiver was the 12th most popular free app from the US Mac App Store, but has since been removed from the showcase.
While macOS Mojave is configured to improve security for applications accessing the home directory, the store review process should have detected this user security violation and not allowed applications on the Mac App Store. In addition, as Apple's stricter approach to applications, at least compared to Google's more lenient approach, provides greater security, this news tarnishes the reputation of the technology giant.
This news comes after the revelation that another popular app, Adware Doctor, on Apple's Mac App Store was secretly a spyware program that sent your browser's history to China. Before it was removed, Adware Doctor at $ 4.99 was the fifth most popular paid app on the official Apple store. The application had received more than 6,000 five-star reviews, but it is unclear (and questionable) that the positive reviews were authentic.
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