Apple has found several apps on its App Store infected with malicious XcodeGhost program which were found embedded in popular apps like WeChat and even on a popular car hailing app. The casualties have been identified and the cleaning process has already begun taking place. This is the first large scale attack on iOS to date with possibly over hundreds affected, the usually fortress like and stringent walls of the iOS is penetrable as shown by the malware developers.

This could lead to more attacks with the opening of the route using this tactic. Here is how they did it, the hackers convince developers to think the XcodeGhost as a legitimate Apple software and get them to instead use the counterfeit version of Apples software for creating iOS and Mac apps which is know as Xcode. Once the apps pass through the checks, they can then infect the devices and gather information or subject to all sorts of activity depending on the program and motif.

However Apple has officially released a statement on the matter assuring iPhone and iPad users that all is safe for now ” We’ve removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software Apple” spokeswoman Christine Monaghan said.

It was found the fake version of the Xcode was downloaded from a server in China that developers used to build their apps, possibly because its faster than US Apple servers.