iOS app stole $1,6 million worth of bitcoins from users

Apple може похвалитися, що фірмовий магазин App Store – це надійний притулок. Те саме не можна сказати про Google Play, де ви можете знайти шкідливі програми. Але не все так просто, і Apple не має механізму, який на 100% гарантує, що неякісне програмне забезпечення не потрапляє на простори магазину додатків.

After passing Apple's verification steps, a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading app called Trezor has hit the App Store. Many thought it was an app from Trezor, a company that specializes in creating hardware wallets for cryptocurrency. Working with this program, the user Phillipe Christodoulou lost 17,1 bitcoins and at the current exchange rate, about 600 thousand dollars were simply stolen. But he was not the only victim of fraudsters. There were at least 4 other people who lost their cryptocurrency and the total loss was $1,6 million.

An iOS app stole $1,6 million worth of bitcoins from users

It's only logical that the victims blamed everything on Apple; which allowed fraudulent software to appear in the App Store. For its part, the Cupertino-based company said the app's developers got through the app store using a bait-and-switch technique. Simply put, they provided a secure version of the secure data storage program for review; and after it was approved for the App Store, they changed it to a cryptocurrency wallet.

Unfortunately, the replacement was not detected in time, and the creators of the fraudulent software managed to make quite a lot of money. The incident prompted an App Store audit that led to several apps being removed from the store. The company does not say what kind of applications they are, how many of them were found and what they used.

«Довіра користувачів є основою того, чому ми створили App Store; і ми лише поглибили це зобов’язання за ці роки», – сказав представник Apple Фред Сайнц. «Дослідження за дослідженням показало, що App Store – найбезпечніший ринок додатків у світі; і ми постійно працюємо над підтримкою цього стандарту та подальшим посиленням захисту App Store. У обмежених випадках, коли злочинці обманюють наших користувачів, ми вживаємо швидких заходів проти цих суб’єктів, а також для запобігання подібним порушенням у майбутньому».

It is worth noting that a similar fraudulent Trezor application was also created for Android devices. But Trezor then managed to warn users that it does not have a mobile app; and warned them against installing fake programs. A similar message was sent by Google, which quickly removed the fake Trezor wallet last December.

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