The number one top-selling paid Utilities app on the Mac App Store in the United States has been found to steal the browser history of anyone who downloads it, and is still on the App Store as of this article. A video posted in August gave a proof of concept to how the app “Adware Doctor” steals user data, and security researcher Patrick Wardle has now looked into the app and shared his findings with TechCrunch.
Adware Doctor’s Mac App Store page says it will “keep your Mac safe” and “get rid of annoying pop-up ads.” Besides being at the top of the Utilities chart on the Mac App Store, Adware Doctor is also currently the number five top paid app on the entire store in the U.S., behind apps like Notability and Apple’s own Final Cut Pro.
In his blog post, Wardle explains that Adware Doctor withdraws sensitive user data — predominantly any website you’ve searched for and browsed on — and sends it to servers in China run by the app’s makers. Apple was contacted a month ago — around the time the original proof of concept video was shared online — and promised it would investigate, but the $4.99 app remains on the Mac App Store.
Read more at MacRumors.com