Cracks in the wall: China's 'Great Firewall' may share some blame for breach at Apple's App Store
Infected apps included internet giant Tencent's WeChat, and ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing
Restrictive online access by China's controversial "Great Firewall" may have indirectly contributed to the first major security breach in Apple's online App Store that likely exposed millions of users to malicious software.
Separate analyses conducted by leading security companies Palo Alto Networks and Qihoo 360 Technology, as well as reports by major domestic internet firms, found that many mainland app developers had been enticed by hackers to use a fake version of Xcode - Apple's software toolkit for building apps for the iPhone and iPad - from an alternative website that claimed to be reputable and offered faster download speeds.
The malware, called XcodeGhost, can launch phishing attacks to dupe recipients into giving personal data, according to reports yesterday.
Sources familiar with the matter said mainland developers had long complained about slow downloads of Xcode and other business tools because access was squeezed by China's firewall, which blocks websites prohibited by online censors.
The malware situation was exacerbated by certain developers' practice of disabling their iOS apps' "gatekeeper" feature, which is supposed to alert them to counterfeit software.
Read more: Chinese have no need for websites blocked by Great Firewall, says Beijing official
Qihoo 360, from its analysis of 1.45 million iOS apps, counted about 344 infected apps created from the bogus Apple software. Palo Alto found at least 39 infected apps.