Popular Paid-App, Adware Doctor, Spied on Apple Users
One of the top five paid apps in the Apple App Store, was accumulating data on its users and sending it overseas. Adware Doctor, previously known as Adware Medic, was the fourth top app in the App store. It portrayed itself as a security product, gaining the trust of its users. It is because of its deceitful name and promises for security, users felt safe granting the app additional permissions, typically not allowed within the App store. Adware Doctor capitalized on this, gaining access to the user’s browsing history and the software executing on the devices. This information was then stored in locked files and sent to China.
As it turns out, this is not the first time Adware Doctor has been in a bit of trouble. In 2015, the software was known as Adware Medic. Security researchers tested the app at that time and notified Apple of suspicious activity taking place within the app. Adware Medic was soon removed from the App Store, only to return days later under the new name, Adware Doctor.
Unfortunately for Adware Doctor users, you’ve been dupped out of your subscription fee. The best way to avoid the app from obtaining additional information from your device is to remove it completely.
Weeks after being notified of the malicious activity, Apple finally removed the app from the App Store, making it no longer available.
