Security Loophole Could Expose Apple’s Mac App Store to Piracy

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Security oversights by Mac developers and Apple allow users

to pirate or modify applications downloaded from the Mac App Store, several

users reported on Jan. 6.

Less than 24 hours after Apple unveiled the Mac

App Store for the Mac OS X, reports emerged on various user forums,

including Pastebin and Daring Fireball, that some paid apps do not properly

validate App Store receipts, making it easy to obtain those programs for free.

Users can copy the App Store receipt from any legitimate Mac

App Store download — free or paid — and paste it to validate other paid

applications, according to the posted instructions.

“This isn’t true for all paid Mac App Store apps,”

wrote John Gruber of Daring Fireball, but only for those applications with

which developers were lax about applying Apple’s recommendations on validating

store receipts. The app checks to ensure there is a valid receipt, but it doesn’t

check that the ID listed on the receipt belongs to the app.

For more, read the eWeek article: Apple Security Loopholes Open Mac App Store to Piracy.

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