‘XcodeGhost’ Malware Attack in 2015 Impacted 128 Million iOS Users, According to Trial Documents

Back in 2015, a malware-infected variation of Xcode began circulating in China, and malware-ridden “XcodeGhost” apps made their method into Apples App Store and past the App Store evaluation team.
There were more than 50 recognized contaminated iOS apps at the time, including significant apps like WeChat, NetEase, and Didi Taxi, with up to 500 million iOS users possibly impacted. Its been a very long time since the XcodeGhost attack, however Apples trial with Epic is surfacing brand-new details.
Trial files highlighted by Motherboard indicate that a total of 128 million users downloaded apps with the XcodeGhost malware, consisting of 18 million users in the United States.
XcodeGhost was one of the greatest attacks against iPhone users to date due to the variety of iPhone users that were impacted. The 128 million impacted users got malware from downloads of more than 2,500 affected apps.
Based on e-mails shared in the trial, Apple worked to identify the impact of the attack and how to best alert those who downloaded contaminated apps. “Due to the large number of consumers potentially impacted, do we wish to send out an email to all of them?” Apples App Store vice president Matt Fischer asked.
Apple did ultimately inform users that downloaded XcodeGhost apps, and also released a list of the top 25 most popular apps that were jeopardized. Apple eliminated all of the infected apps from the App Store, and supplied information to developers to assist them validate Xcode moving forward.
XcodeGhost was a prevalent attack, however it was not reliable or dangerous. At the time, Apple stated that it had no details to recommend that the malware was ever utilized for any harmful purpose nor that sensitive individual information was stolen, but it did collect app package identifiers, network information, and gadget names and types.