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

Back in 2015, a malware-infected variation of Xcode started distributing in China, and malware-ridden “XcodeGhost” apps made their method into Apples App Store and past the App Store review group.
There were more than 50 recognized contaminated iOS apps at the time, including major apps like WeChat, NetEase, and Didi Taxi, with up to 500 million iOS users possibly affected. Its been a long period of time because the XcodeGhost attack, however Apples trial with Epic is surfacing brand-new details.
Trial documents 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 among the most significant attacks versus iPhone users to date due to the variety of iPhone users that were affected. The 128 million impacted users got malware from downloads of more than 2,500 affected apps.
Based on emails shared in the trial, Apple worked to figure out the effect of the attack and how to best notify those who downloaded contaminated apps. “Due to the large number of customers possibly impacted, do we want to send an email to all of them?” Apples App Store vice president Matt Fischer asked.
Apple did ultimately notify users that downloaded XcodeGhost apps, and likewise released a list of the top 25 most popular apps that were compromised. Apple eliminated all of the infected apps from the App Store, and supplied information to designers to help them confirm Xcode moving forward.
XcodeGhost was an extensive attack, but it was unsafe or not efficient. At the time, Apple stated that it had no info to recommend that the malware was ever used for any harmful purpose nor that delicate personal information was stolen, however it did gather app package identifiers, network details, and gadget names and types.