The incident affected several Chinese services, including instant messaging platform WeChat; It was caused by the use of an altered version of the program of official development Xcode used to create apps for iPhone and iPad
After detecting an unusual security flaw, Apple removed some applications of the App Store after developers in China were deceived and used software tools to embedded malicious code.
The company did not elaborate on which companies were affected, but Tencent said its popular instant messaging service WeChat affected. For this reason, the company issued a corrected after detecting the malware version. Several reports in the local press reported that other affected included banks, an airline and a popular music service.
The malicious code spread through a fake version of Apple’s Xcode tools used to develop apps iPhone and iPad, according to the company. He said the false tools spread when developers obtained them from “unreliable sources” rather than directly with the company.
The malware collects information from infected devices and up to external servers, According to Palo Alto Networks, a US software company.
Last week, security researchers Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant, were the first to report malware and nicknamed XcodeGhost.
Sometimes downloading files Apple servers is slow, so some Chinese developers chose to download the Xcode development package or other sources Copies of colleagues said Claud Xiao, researcher at Palo Alto Networks
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The creators of malicious software capitalized on the frustration caused by the locks imposed by the authorities in China to internet , which hinder access to Apple and other foreign sites. This made some people prefer to use foreign software copies or documents uploaded to websites in China to speed up access.
“Sometimes the speed is very slow networks when large files are downloaded Apple’s servers, “wrote Xiao Claud researcher Palo Alto Networks, on the site of the company. Due to the enormous weight of the XCode file, “some Chinese developers chose to download the package from other sources or obtain copies of colleagues.”
The companies with applications that were affected include taxi service kuaidi Didi ( Uber Chinese counterpart), the bank Citic Industrial Bank, the airline China Southern Airlines and NetEase music service, newspaper Yangcheng Evening News.
The incident is only the sixth known code Malicious known passed the review process Apple products in its App Store, according to Xiao.
The problem of malicious software in mobile applications had already broken into the Google Play store in 2011, when he had to take down several titles contain malware. In recently, Virus Shield was removed from the platform because it offered a false security analysis service smartphone. Until then, the application had been one of the most downloaded paid software store Google.
Associated Press
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