List Of Banned Apple Apps Named; Details And Statement Released!
Over 250 Smartphone applications have been banned by Apple. SourceDNA discovered that there are several mobile softwares, which have been downloaded over a million times, which accessed users' information in a hidden manner.
Youmi, a Chinese advertising company, gave application creators a software development kit (SDK). This kit can gather information on what the user downloaded including serial numbers of the consumer's Smartphone and email addresses, reported by SourceDNA
These kit's builders, might not have been fully knowledgeable about the Apple's security and privacy guidelines, according to Consumerist. Youmi's SDK developers, most of them, are said to be based in China. The mobile security company, SourceDNA was able to endorse the names of the apps to Apple. As a prompt response, the said company banned the applications being asked.
"We found 256 apps ,with the estimate of one million downloads, that have one of the versions of Youmi that violates user privacy. Most of the developers are located in China," according to SourceDNA.
"We believe the developers of these apps aren't aware of this since the SDK is delivered in binary form, obfuscated, and user info is uploaded to Youmi's server, not the app's," they added. "We recommend developers stop using this SDK until this code is removed."
"Apple has been locking down private APIs, including blocking apps from reading the platform serial number in iOS 8," SourceDNA added. "Youmi worked around this by enumerating peripheral devices, such as the battery system, and sending those serial numbers as a hardware identifier."
Moreover, SourceDNA cited that Apple also did comment on the said breach of the company's security and privacy policy:
"We've identified a group of apps that are using a third-party advertising SDK, developed by Youmi, a mobile advertising provider, that uses private APIs to gather private information, such as user email addresses and device identifiers, and route data to its company server," the agency said, as cited by the source.
"This is a violation of our security and privacy guidelines," Apple added. "The apps using Youmi's SDK have been removed from the App Store and any new apps submitted to the App Store using this SDK will be rejected."
"We are working closely with developers to help them get updated versions of their apps that are safe for customers and in compliance with our guidelines back in the App Store quickly."
Meanwhile, Apple will only allow these applications to be back in App Store once they have already complied with its security and privacy guidelines; as for the latest update, developers of some banned applications were already working things out with Apple.
