Apple Removes Scam App That Led to Hijacked Facebook Ad Accounts

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Maybe, juuuuust maybe, think a bit about someone that’s NOT you? You’re a tech savvy MacRumors reader. Whatever you want on YOUR phone you can have via jailbreaking it. There are far more people that benefit from the current security than there are people that would EVER benefit from sideloading. On the up side, you get a few hundred people that can finally download a vape app from anywhere. Whoopee. On the down side, now millions are exposed to the same malicious actors that are quite effective on non-iOS platforms.

Skill issue lol

If they don't have basic common sense when looking for software on the internet especially from trusted vendors, either they need to get good and learn or they shouldn't be on the internet. Plain and simple.

Tech illiteracy has never been a valid excuse to restrict the OS for everyone, as evident from the Mac

 

[polyphenol]

If they don't have basic common sense when looking for software on the internet especially from trusted vendors, either they need to get good and learn or they shouldn't be on the internet. Plain and simple.

Pretty much, less clever, less skilled people can just go and get lost.

Forgetting, or simply ignoring, that many people are forced to use the internet. For example, there are government services which are only available on the internet. Getting prescriptions issued more or less requires internet use. There are many goods which are unobtainable except over the internet.

Might not be like that in your area. But it is for me, and millions of others, in mine.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Pretty much, less clever, less skilled people can just go and get lost.

Forgetting, or simply ignoring, that many people are forced to use the internet. For example, there are government services which are only available on the internet. Getting prescriptions issued more or less requires internet use. There are many goods which are unobtainable except over the internet.

Might not be like that in your area. But it is for me, and millions of others, in mine.

Again: Skill issue. Just get good.

 

[4743913]

I don’t think you know what a straw man is. It’s not “a statement I don’t like”.

Ok, I’ll make it simple for you. Mac users can be scammed into providing root access to their Mac. iOS users cannot be scammed into providing root access to their iOS device, no matter how gullible and inexperienced they are.

I know exactly what it is, and its what the apple ovis aries use because they are don't want users to be able to install software on the devices they own. Users are going to have this ability soon, so accept it.

I enjoy all of the Chicken Littles that jump into these treads with cult-like fear of installing software..

 

[4743913]

You appear not to understand what happens at scale.

why do you hate freedom?

 

[MacsRgr8]

One of the most dangerous security issues:
False sense of security.

 

[topdrawer]

You just get 100X more with side loading and nobody gets alerted until it is wayyy too late.

I have an idiot freelance photographer/videographer friend who didn’t pay for his Adobe apps. Kept using CS6 cracked versions for years. When he complained his accounts were getting jacked I looked at his computer, did a scan, whole thing infested with keystroke recorder sending his typing to an IP address.

without the false sense of security you get from the app store.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Skill issue lol

If they don't have basic common sense when looking for software on the internet especially from trusted vendors, either they need to get good and learn or they shouldn't be on the internet. Plain and simple.

Tech illiteracy has never been a valid excuse to restrict the OS for everyone, as evident from the Mac

Anyone who wants a device they can sideload with can buy something other than an iOS device. Plainer and simplest! Just consider the iPhone the device of the tech illiterate as it has been from the beginning. You don’t want to be a member of the tech illiterate DO YOU? Better get that Android!.

That’s far better than “get gud or they shouldn’t be on the internet lose your life savings, granpa!”

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I know exactly what it is, and its what the apple ovis aries use because they are don't want users to be able to install software on the devices they own. Users are going to have this ability soon, so accept it.

I enjoy all of the Chicken Littles that jump into these treads with cult-like fear of installing software..

I don’t think so, because there was nothing that resembled “straw man” in what I posted.

And, once it’s clearly pointed out the difference between macOS and iOS, it becomes “I simply don’t like that I don’t have a response to your solid unassailable fact, so now I’m calling you names.” It ALWAYS ends that way. Every now and then I pop into threads like these to see if there’s even a recognizance of that reality and, nope, not yet!

 

[ponzicoinbro]

without the false sense of security you get from the app store.

Better a little false sense of security than worse security.

If crooks in countries like Russia, China, India, North Korea continue with cyber crimes, hacking and scamming then we have no choice but to have all apps coming from the App Store on macOS even.

It’s not the world we want it is the world that cyber criminals and dictators are forcing on us.

Yes of course cyber criminals are also in the Western countries. They are also on our doorstep conning people with pyramid schemes, grifting influencers, ponzi coins, etc etc

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Some reactions in this thread showed me who are the folks using pirate CS6 and are in denial about malware and viruses. Keep it up! When you turn 21 years old you can even have a drink to celebrate ignorance Of computer security.

 

[return2sendai]

Arse! They caught me!

 

[Shirasaki]

What happens to apps installed on our devices when an app gets removed like this?

Does it get removed? Do we get told we have a "bad" app installed?

If apple revoke certificate, then you likely can’t run it anymore. But if it is just removed, then chances are you can still use it. I encountered this a couple times in the past and those removed apps still useable across multiple iOS versions until it breaks.

In this situation, we should be "mad" at both. Apple plays up the safety and security of their App Store and is supposed to "protect and serve" (using your police analogy). If they fail to do so, it is on them. I'm not talking 100% blame here but certainly some of it.

Yeah. When victim waiting for police to “deliver the justice” so to speak, they aren’t gonna “just blame the criminal” if the police is slow at catching the criminal. Those victims will ALSO blame the police. In this case, users WILL blame apple for the same problem.

 

[4743913]

I don’t think so, because there was nothing that resembled “straw man” in what I posted.

And, once it’s clearly pointed out the difference between macOS and iOS, it becomes “I simply don’t like that I don’t have a response to your solid unassailable fact, so now I’m calling you names.” It ALWAYS ends that way. Every now and then I pop into threads like these to see if there’s even a recognizance of that reality and, nope, not yet!

yada yada yada.. keep living in fear. Software installation is coming. embrace it. learn it. love it.

 

[4743913]

Just consider the iPhone the device of the tech illiterate as it has been from the beginning.

Steve Jobs approved the sideloading of apps in the beginning..

 

[Radeon85]

Your walled garden is working well I see

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

THIS IS WHAT I KEEP TELLING PEOPLE!

Everything Apple says about sideloading is a lie to keep total control, stamping out competition, and maximize profits so there's absolutely zero reason to not have an optional sideloading toggle for those who want it.

Edit: And to those who keep disliking this post, see for yourself: Scam apps have figured out how to trick the App Store review team and it's getting worse. You are not immune to bad actors with the absence of sideloading like you think you are https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/04/fraudulent-chinese-apps-mac-app-store/

Don't worry, the "dislikes" are actually just Chinese fake "reviewers" paid by Apple to dislike everything anti-Apple

 

[Starscape]

The App Store is a complete cesspool and offers no better security and reassurance than Google‘s Play Store. People love to signal-boost the old argument that Apple’s closed and restrictive OS ecosystem makes it especially safe, yet the biggest concern is pointed at Apple’s own App Store. Ironic. Some of the gambling apps being advertised are so scummy, yet they stay on the App Store because Apple loves that 30% cut from the people throwing money at these gambling apps because their advertising says they’re guaranteed to win money.

 

[svish]

Bad to see such apps on the App store but good to hear that Apple has removed it now. It should not have been in the App store to begin with!!

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Steve Jobs approved the sideloading of apps in the beginning..

Those were web apps, they were just links to webpages.

They were ripe for exploitation so the feature didn’t exist a year later.

Once exploited whole phone would have been compromised.

That was in 2007 when security was lower than today.

There will never be an unhackable operating system or hardware that remains secure forever. That’s why we have regular updates to security features.

This is where we are today.

Cyber-security chiefs warn of malicious app risk

Devices from smart speakers to fitness trackers have apps, and cyber-criminals are exploiting weaknesses.

www.bbc.co.uk

‘Last year, the government noted, Android phone users downloaded apps which contained the Triada and Escobar malware from various third-party app stores.

"This resulted in cyber-criminals remotely taking control of people's phones and stealing their data and money by signing them up for premium subscription services," it said.’

 

[ponzicoinbro]

The App Store is a complete cesspool and offers no better security and reassurance than Google‘s Play Store. People love to signal-boost the old argument that Apple’s closed and restrictive OS ecosystem makes it especially safe, yet the biggest concern is pointed at Apple’s own App Store. Ironic. Some of the gambling apps being advertised are so scummy, yet they stay on the App Store because Apple loves that 30% cut from the people throwing money at these gambling apps because their advertising says they’re guaranteed to win money.

You’re being extreme and contradicting yourself.

Gambling and lotteries shouldn’t be available true.

But at least you can point the finger at the App Store and demand it should be cleaned up.

You can’t do that if phone’s become flea markets. It’s easy for scammers and flea market app devs to get developer certificates using some offshore company with unknown owners. With sideloading even easier to buy/borrow a cert on a black market.

With flea market OS your children will download a game from a flea market site and that flea market developer will extract all your children’s data including your contact detail.

What kind of email messages do you think you will get from flea market developers who harass your children or blackmail you with your children’s private data? Do you think you can take legal action or find them when they live 5000 miles away in another country where the police don’t give AF and take a bribe?

 

[Shirasaki]

So that’s one scam app removed. More to go. Will apple spend money to find them? Unlikely. There’s really nothing much left that can actually pressure apple doing the so-called “right things” anymore.

I don’t understand why people love Apple’s dictatorship style in App Store policy and many more, and worse, defend them to no end. Let’s see how much EU changes App Store.

 

[Abazigal]

I don’t understand why people love Apple’s dictatorship style in App Store policy and many more, and worse, defend them to no end. Let’s see how much EU changes App Store.

In the same vein, I don't understand how anyone calling out Apple's supposed lackadaisical approach to policing the App Store could think that we would be better off were the App Store to be abolished altogether, and we returned to the free-for-all nature of PCs.

Isn't this like saying - crime is still happening despite the country having a police force, so let's scrap the police force.

In the very least, the App Store lets me pay with iTunes, ensuring developers don't get my payment details. I am able to track and manage my subscriptions in one place. Apple is able to enforce policies like ATT and Sign In with Apple.

What benefits do I get exactly from developers bypassing the App Store altogether?

 

[ponzicoinbro]

In the same vein, I don't understand how anyone calling out Apple's supposed lackadaisical approach to policing the App Store could think that we would be better off were the App Store to be abolished altogether, and we returned to the free-for-all nature of PCs.

Isn't this like saying - crime is still happening despite the country having a police force, so let's scrap the police force.

In the very least, the App Store lets me pay with iTunes, ensuring developers don't get my payment details. I am able to track and manage my subscriptions in one place. Apple is able to enforce policies like ATT and Sign In with Apple.

What benefits do I get exactly from developers bypassing the App Store altogether?

No benefit for you.

The benefit is for the massive cyber crime rings.

The whole web is being weaponized by crime gangs and libertarian psychos.

They want full access to your device and a large chunk of the data and money they can swipe from phone owners goes to the same dictator regimes who want to wipe us out and bribe the worst people in our politics and business.

This is the cyberwar that was predicted in the 90s. Some people just don’t want to accept that it is happening.

They think ‘side loading’ and things like that means ‘freedom’.

It won’t be their freedom when they become the victim.

 

[4743913]

Those were web apps, they were just links to webpages.

no they weren't. the problem with these threads are some with an irrational fear of installing software. They run around with their straw man arguments, half truths and just general fear mongering.. We will soon be able to install software from outside of the AppStore as was ORIGINALLY intended for the iPhone. Some people are going to have to find another walled garden in which to stifle development.