“We tore apart Adware Doctor… our research uncovered blatant violations of user privacy and complete disregard of Apple’s App Store Guidelines,” Wardle wrote in a technical analysis of the app posted on Friday. After discovering the app, the researcher reached out to Patrick Wardle, chief research officer at Digita Security and founder of Mac security company Objective-See, to assist in analyzing the app.

The researcher that goes by the Twitter handle is credited for first spotting the app early last month. Researchers said the app violates Apple’s sandboxing security policies by surreptitiously copying a user’s entire browser history and cookies and sending both to a China-based domain. The app, which cost $5, was listed on Apple’s Mac App Store as the company’s fourth-highest “Top Paid” software program.

But it appears, only after faced with public scrutiny, did Apple remove the app. In addition to Adware Doctor, Apple also took action against a number of different macOS apps that also collected browser history data.Īpple was initially alerted to the rogue app in early August – over a month ago. Apple removed the top-rated app Adware Doctor from its official Mac App Store after researchers publicly exposed the privacy-busting app on Friday.

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