Software pirates are allegedly taking advantage of the enterprise developer certificates to release hacked apps.
Reuters recently reported that they found a number of online pirates distributing the hacked version of well-loved apps. The pirates are allegedly abusing their enterprise developer certificates to bypass the Apple app store in distributing the apps.
The four software distributors are TutuApp, PandaHelper, AppValley, and TweakBox are now labeled as illicit distributors. News outlets sent a request to the four distributors for comments and reactions but the so-called iOS pirates remain mum as of the moment.
Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go and Minecraft are just some of the hacked apps that the iOS pirates successfully distributed by hijacking the Apple-designed technology.
An Apple spokesperson released a statement saying that the Apple Developer Enterprise Program Agreement was violated on this act. Termination of the certificate is what awaits those developers that abuse their enterprise certificates.
The spokesperson further assured that they are preferred to take immediate action after their continuous evaluation of the case of misuse. Last week, a report surfaced that some of the iOS pirates were banned from the Apple system. However, days after the report, the pirates were heard to be operational again using different certificates.
As another form of corrective action, Apple released a statement on Wednesday that two-step authentication will be required for users to log into their developer account before March. The step will require a user to obtain a user code sent to his phone aside from keying in the password.
The iOS pirates earn from users by offering them a service better than the free ones which they called the "VIP" version service. They charge the interested users with a yearly subscription fee of $13.
The software pirates provide their subscribers with well-loved apps at modified versions. They are then able to enjoy music streaming without the ads where legitimate app makers earn and are able to skip some rules and even fees in their games which makes revenue for Apple.
When joined together, TutuApp, PandaHelper, AppValley, and TweakBox have a total of 600,000 followers. It is still unsure if the majority of those followers have subscribed to the "VIP" version of service which could mean a huge loss in the tech giant as well as the legitimate app makers revenue.
Another case of certificate abuse surfaced earlier this week as the distribution of gambling and pornography apps were reported. Both the apps were immediately banned from the App Store, according to The Tech Crunch.
