Reuters reported that “The distributors of pirated apps… are using certificates obtained in the name of legitimate businesses, although it is unclear how.” The verification process for businesses relies on a DUNS ID, which is easily searchable on the web for any arbitrary business, TechCrunch reported Tuesday. The pirated apps in question remove advertisements, or provide apps for free which otherwise require purchase in the App Store. SEE: IoT security: A guide for IT leaders (Tech Pro Research) Amazon operates a competing App Store for Android, which is made possible by this sideloading capability. That said, while Google would not allow pirated content to proliferate in the Play Store, sideloading apps is easily possible. The evidently widespread abuse of the program casts doubt about Apple’s claim of better security on iOS–while installing these apps requires end users to perform a series of steps to manually install the applications, Apple appears to be unsuccessful in building a wall to keep unapproved applications off of iPhones and iPads. ![]() ![]() ![]() Software pirates have gotten in on the action as well, distributing “hacked versions of Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go, Minecraft and other popular apps on iPhones,” according to a Reuters report late Wednesday. An avalanche of reports over the last two weeks have shown that Facebook, Google, Amazon, as well as purveyors of explicit content and real-money gambling have been abusing the Apple Developer Enterprise Program, intended for Apple-approved organizations to test and distribute apps specifically for internal use.
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