Dr Cleaner Mac Not In App Store
Apple has recently pulled several Trend Micro apps from its app store. These include the free packages Dr. Cleaner, Dr. Antivirus, and Dr. Archiver listed has been developed by Trend Micro. The reason for the apps receiving the boot: they exfiltrate user data for the user’s browser history. The discovery was made by Thomas Reed of Malwarebytes Labs and @privacyis1st. As a result of the public outcry and industry condemnation, Apple was forced to pull the apps. At the time of writing, only Dr. Wifi and Network Scanner were still available for download. In the report published by Thomas Reed, much of their research centered around Dr. Antivirus and Dr. Cleaner. Upon analysis, it was revealed that Dr. Antivirus was incredibly limited in what, in terms of malware, it could detect. This is due in part to restrictions placed on app development by Apple and imposed on the App Store. As with many similar apps, detection rates were poor even when used to detect malware within the user folder, Dr. Antivirus was no different.
Who's on my wifi. Turn off Wi-Fi and close shut down your browsers. Open Finder - Go - Go to Folder.
This viewed in isolation is no reason why the app would be removed from the app store. It was when the researchers discovered the app was using a method used by other another app to exfiltrate data that warning shots were fired. That app being Open Any File, discovered last year the app can only be described as a scam. The app would hijack the system’s functionality for handling documents that the user does not have an appropriate app to open. This is all done as a means for advertising other products. Open Any File had another surprise in that it upload a file named file.zip to the following URL: update.appletuner.trendmicro.com/1/upload/search_keywords/. On further analysis, the file contained the complete Safari browsing and search history, complete Chrome browsing and search history, complete Firefox browsing and search history, complete App Store browsing history.
Malwarebytes discovered that Dr. Anitvirus exfiltrated the exact same data as Open Any File. However, Dr. Antivirus also contained an interesting file named app.plist, which contained detailed information about every application found on the system. It can be argued that any antivirus offering needs to collect some browsing data to assist in malware detections and webpage blocking. That being said, it is very difficult to justify the exfiltration of the entire browsing history of all installed browsers regardless of whether the user has encountered malware or not. Further, there was nothing in the app to inform the user of this data collection, and there was no way to opt out of this data collection.
Dr. Cleaner to exfiltrated the same data as Dr. Antivirus minus the list of installed applications. While an argument exists for an antivirus to collect limited browsing data, there exists no good reason for a “cleaning” app to be collecting this kind of user data, even if the users were informed, which was not the case. This led Thomas Reed to conclude that the Mac App Store is not the safe haven of reputable software that Apple wants it to be. Further, it is recommended that users treat the App Store as any other download location, meaning that it could be potentially dangerous.
A number of these apps – Dr. Cleaner Pro, Dr. Antivirus, Dr. Unarchiver, Dr. Battery and Duplicate Finder — are owned and operated by Japan-based Trend Micro. Apple normally places tight restrictions on what data app developers can collect. Yet Read found that the apps were pulling data that they should not have had access to. Clean your iPhone, iPad to free up more space Find your duplicate or similar photos on your iPhone, iPad, help you to clean your photos. Scan iPhone, iPad video, clean big videos quickly. Unfortunately, other apps by the same developer are also collecting this data. We observed the same data being collected by Dr. Cleaner, minus the list of installed applications. There is really no good reason for a “cleaning” app to be collecting this kind of user data, even if the users were informed, which was not the case. When I go to the App store, Dr Cleaner is not free. I think it said $14.99. My mac mini has been crashing by itself, apps won't open says they quit unexpectedly, sometimes the mac won't restart unless I hold down the button for a while. My net gear WIFI say it quit and I wasn't even using it. All kinds of problems. Cleaner / Free App Mac / AppStore Free App Clean your Mac Disc and memory Ram For Osx.
Trend Micro’s Response
Often in these situations, it is safe to assume that a reputable company and its image is been abused to distribute malware. A brief look at Trend Micro would confirm this. Trend Micro Inc. is a publicly listed corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded nearly thirty years ago, with almost six thousand employees worldwide, and revenue (2017) of ¥148.8 billion or approximately 1.3 billion USD. However, in a press release the company admitted that those three products – Dr. Cleaner, Dr. Antivirus and Dr. Archiver – together with Dr. Cleaner Pro, Dr. Battery and Duplicate Finder, all
“collected and uploaded a small snapshot of the browser history on a one-time basis, covering the 24 hours prior to installation”
In Trend Micro’s own words it was stated that the collection of data, “was a one-time data collection, done for security purposes (to analyze whether a user had recently encountered adware or other threats, and thus to improve the product & service)” Further the company went on to say,
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“The data collected was explicitly identified to the customer in the data collection policy and is highlighted to the user during the install,”
This would seem contrary to Malwarebytes’ analysis stating that at no time were users informed of the data collection. In an article published by the Electric Light Company, the writer reviewed Trend Micro’s privacy statement to see if the policy statement allows for the taking and using of personal data. In the examples provided by the writer, it would appear that both the statement for European users and the other for global users make provisions for data exfiltration. Thus, it would seem that they make no secret of it and providing no opt-out for customers wishing to use their product and not “share” their data.
Data is Big Business
As of today, “Dr. Unarchiver” is the nº 12 most popular free app in the US Mac App Store. This is a massive privacy issue and we expect Apple to pull these apps from the Mac App Store fairly. Mac App Store applications identified as “Open Any Files” and “Dr. Antivirus” and “Dr. Cleaner” were also observed exfiltrating Safari, Chrome and Firefox browsing and search histories.
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Earlier this year the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal broke which called into question how our data is harvested and used. Given the public outcry and Facebook been summoned to the US Senate, not to mention a plummeting share price, one would think other companies would handle personal data with more care. The fact remains that data is still big business and unless they are caught and publicly shamed no change will happen. Fortunately, public perceptions as to the ethical handling of data are changing, this and the adoption of GDPR legislation will help to further prevent your data from been abused to turn a profit.
Apps created for the Mac don't receive as much attention as apps made for iOS devices, so we have a bi-monthly series here at MacRumors that's designed to highlight useful and interesting Mac apps that are worth checking out and potentially investing in.This week's picks include apps for streamlining your email, focusing on tasks, checking the weather, cleaning up your Mac, and managing all of your messaging services. Many of our highlighted apps this week were chosen by MacRumors forum members.
- Focus (Free with in-app purchases) - Focus is a time management app and monitoring service that's designed to help you keep track of your time so you can stay on task. It encourages users to work in focus sessions, which are 25 minute blocks of time for working accompanied by a 15 to 20 minute break. There's an included task manager so you can stay on top of tasks, along with detailed statistics so you can see how you've spent your day. Focus is free to download, but it costs $4.99 per month or $39.99 for year to use across all of your devices.
- Carrot Weather ($11.99) - Carrot Weather is a well-known weather app that delivers weather information with a little bit of attitude to make checking outdoor conditions more fun. It has different dialogue and graphics for various weather conditions, and what comes up is always a surprise. Carrot Weather uses data from Dark Sky so it's super accurate and it offers up tons of data like 7-day forecasts, rain and snow predictions, weather maps, and a time machine so you can see past weather conditions.
- Dr. Cleaner (Free) - Dr. Cleaner from TrendMicro is an app that offers a Disk Clean Map so you can see what's taking up space on your Mac, a memory cleanup feature for freeing up memory, a scanner for large files, and a junk file cleaner that's designed to get rid of temporary files, trash, and other unwanted items taking up disk space. Dr. Cleaner is free from the Mac App Store, but there is a $19.99 Pro version that finds and eliminates duplicate files, shreds deleted files, and uninstalls apps.
- Canary Mail ($19.99) - Those who previously used the now-eliminated Newton Mail might be looking for a new mail app, and Canary could fit the bill. Canary Mail offers one-click encryption, natural language search, smart filters, read notifications, snooze options, email templates, one-click unsubscribe, and more.
- All-in-One Messenger (Free) - This is technically a Chrome extension rather than a Mac app, so it's limited to Chrome users. All-in-One Messenger is designed to combine all of your chat and messenger services into one convenient web app so you can keep up with all of your chats in a single spot. It works with a wide range of messaging apps, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Hangouts, and more.
For more of our Mac app picks, make sure to check out our Mac app archives.