More Mac apps are stealing and uploading your data, says report

Apps like Dr. Unarchiver and Dr. Cleaner were uploading users' browser history to their servers, according to 9to5Mac.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter

Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.

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Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.

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Abrar Al-Heeti

Sept. 10, 2018 1:16 p.m. PT

A handful of apps on the Mac App Store may be gathering and uploading your data, including your browser history.

Apps such as Dr. Unarchiver and Dr. Cleaner, which are distributed by developer Trend Micro, Inc., reportedly collected and uploaded users' browser history to their servers, according to a 9to5Mac report on Sunday. The apps also gathered information on other apps installed on the system, according to 9to5Mac.

The apps ask users for access to their home directory in exchange for functions such as virus scanning or cache clean ups. After users launched the apps, the apps would gather information like browser history, create a zip file and upload it, according to the report.

Apple prohibits apps from collecting this kind of data without consent. Dr. Unarchiver and Dr. Cleaner were removed from the Mac App Store on Sunday, 9to5Mac reported. At the time, Dr. Unarchiver was the 12th most popular free app in the US Mac App Store, 9to5Mac reported.

Apple and Trend Micro didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last week, an app called Adware Doctor, which said it removed malicious files and malware from users' Macs, was also found to be collecting user data such as browser history without consent, and then sending it to a server in China. Apple removed the app from the App Store, but not before Adware Doctor reached the No. 1 spot in the paid utilities app category.