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Privacy

Apple removed popular app that was secretly stealing your browser history

Turns out the antimalware Mac app Adware Doctor had malicious intentions.

Gordon Gottsegen headshot
Gordon Gottsegen
Sept. 7, 2018 10:36 a.m. PT
Gordon Gottsegen headshot

Gordon Gottsegen

CNET contributor

Gordon Gottsegen is a tech writer who has experience working at publications like Wired. He loves testing out new gadgets and complaining about them. He is the ghost of all failed Kickstarters.

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Apple removed the app from the Mac App Store.
Apple

One of the top paid apps in the Mac App Store was stealing browser history from its users and sending it to China, TechCrunch reports. That is, until Apple stepped in and took it down.

The app, Adware Doctor, claimed to remove malicious files and malware from your Mac. But security researcher Patrick Wardle found that the app was also collecting user data, including browser history, without consent and sending it to a server based in China.

Apple confirmed to CNET that it removed the app from the App Store. But before it was taken down, Adware Doctor reached the No. 1 spot in the paid utilities app category, and ranked fourth in top paid apps overall, Wardle notes.

Apple prohibits apps from collecting this kind of data without consent.

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