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Lloydbm41

Suspended
Oct 17, 2013
4,019
1,456
Central California
Several popular apps on the offical Google Play store have hidden code that makes malicious ads pop up.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31129797
'Popular'??? Maybe in Russia or China's Play Stores?

And of course when a biased anti-virus company is involved in the report, I take it with a grain of salt.

And then there is the iOS latest spyware:
Link: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/02/04/new-ios-spyware-targets-non-jailbroken-devices-but-requires-user-intervention-to-install
 
Last edited:

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
35,161
25,280
Gotta be in it to win it

TimelessOne

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2014
236
2
This is old news, of course IOS 8 mitigates the risk if one is dumb enough to install something not in the App Store.

based on what I read on there even iOS will not catch it. Given the fact that it waits 7+ days before becoming active. That means it would pass Apple review process. Now google could easily use the nukelure option and completely remove those apps.
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
17,317
25,469
Wales, United Kingdom
'Popular'??? Maybe in Russia or China's Play Stores?

And of course when a biased anti-virus company is involved in the report, I take it with a grain of salt.

And then there is the iOS latest spyware:
Link: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/02/04/new-ios-spyware-targets-non-jailbroken-devices-but-requires-user-intervention-to-install
According to that article Google blocked access to that app so this suggests the malicious content wasn't something made up by an anti virus company. A number of other apps connected to the developer were also blocked. A recent discussion on here about buggy third party keyboards had quite a few people suggesting it was the phone makers who were at fault because they allowed the apps into their store. How would this be perceived as being any different? I will probably agree with your answer, but with these types of discussions there are often allowances depending on the persons loyalty ties. :)
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
And of course when a biased anti-virus company is involved in the report, I take it with a grain of salt.

When an Anti-virus company is reporting how bad malware is, the article is almost always self serving. I use Avast on my SP3, but this is no different then Norton or Mcafee, or any other company trying to use scare tactics to increase sales.
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
17,317
25,469
Wales, United Kingdom
Citation needed because that was not what was said
I was in that conversation with yourself and a couple of others. What did you mean when you said it was Apple's fault third party keyboards were buggy? In this particular discussion measures have been taken to remove apps (by Google) that carry malicious coding. So if we try and relate the two, is it the app developers fault for adding the code or Google for not vetting the app before it was allowed into the play store? I felt both had a similarity even if it is my opinion the app maker is purely to blame in both situations. What is your view?
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
17,317
25,469
Wales, United Kingdom
You have to re read the thread but this is not what was said. And I can bet that I didn't said that was Apple fault
Perhaps you didn't say it was Apple's fault but I felt you implied that at the time. When I suggested it was the app developers responsibility to make sure the app they design works on the OS correctly, you said this:
If a sandboxes keyboard application can mess with the whole UI we have a very big problem
This sparked the conversation about who was to blame for the issues, however you didn't contribute further at the time because you were unable to post, so apologies for thinking it was you who said it directly. Much like the issue here we have an app developer that has produced several apps that carry malicious coding. I suppose Google are partially to blame for allowing it through much like Apple should test apps thoroughly before selling them, but Google are proud of having less restrictions when it comes to apps. This is potentially a minor risk. albeit 10 million users downloaded this particular one.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
[MOD NOTE]
Lets stay on topic, we're wandering off the bunny trail. This thread is not specifically about keyboards, but rather the article/malware the OP posted.
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
35,161
25,280
Gotta be in it to win it
based on what I read on there even iOS will not catch it. Given the fact that it waits 7+ days before becoming active. That means it would pass Apple review process. Now google could easily use the nukelure option and completely remove those apps.

These type of apps comes from sites with an enterprise certificate outside of the app store. I guess it's possible for malware to slip by apples review, but I never heard of it directly as such. (Different than apps who stole your contacts, pre-IOS 7). This type of stuff seems more precedented on android due to side loading, if that's the right word.
 
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