Several iPhone apps infected after attack on App Store

US based tech giant Apple has taken back many of its apps after hundreds were found infected and were compromised by a major attack on the App Store. This is one of the first major security issues faced by the AppStore which is usually safe for the iPhone and iPad. Many of the apps had malicious ‘XcodeGhost’ code inside them.

The worm resided in the apps as the developers were tricked while using a modified version of Apple’s official software for creating apps which was known as the Xcode. The code was deep embedded in to the app and managed to make its way through the Apple reviewers, who are responsible for checking every app before they are made available to download on the AppStore.
Palo Alto Networks, a security firm said that the Xcode Ghost must have reached in millions of phones and might even have taken data like passwords. However, so far there is no sign of sensitive information been leaked.
The security firm added that just five App Store apps were earlier found to be malicious. The software responsible was hosted in the Chinese website Baidu, so a large number of apps are likely to be affected in China. Many of the developers downloaded Xcode from unofficial sources in China.

Photo Credits: Yahoo