After Apple stops Russian hacker on iOS, he moves to Mac apps
A Russian hacker who was stopped by Apple from allowing others to make illegal in-app purchases in iOS apps has given up trying to beat the company. But only in the mobile realm.
Alexey Borodin has instead moved his focus to Apple’s Mac OS X.
Apple managed to put a stop to Borodin’s actions on iOS, which were allowing users to acquire in-app goodies without dropping a dime via a process discovered by the Russian hacker. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company stopped the fraudulent activity, which was causing developers to lose money.
“We recommend developers follow best practices at developer.apple.com to help ensure they are not vulnerable to fraudulent In-App purchases,” the company said in an email statement. “This will also be addressed with iOS 6.”
And though a more complete fix will have to wait until the fall, when iOS 6 arrives, the stop was enough to make even Borodin admit the illegal iOS in-app purchases were over.
“By examining [Apple’s last] statement about in-app purchases in iOS 6, I can say, that currently game is over,” Borodin said in his blog. “Currently we have no way to bypass updated APIs. It’s a good news for everyone, we have updated security in iOS, developers have their air-money.”
However, Borodin also said he had something bigger in store for Mac OS X.
“The another thing is for in-appstore for OS X,” he said in his blog. “We still waiting for apple’s reaction and we have some cards in the hand. It’s good that OS X is open.”
And sure enough, Borodin did launch another hack that works for Mac OS X in-app purchases in a similar manner to his last hack, according to The Next Web.
When asked about the Mac OS X hack, Apple said Mac developers should direct themselves to this page to learn about how to protect themselves. No statement was offered, and it doesn’t seems as though a full-proof fix has yet to be offered by the company.
But the next version of OS X, Mountain Lion, is expected to arrive Wednesday, and Apple may include a full fix with that launch.
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