News began circulating earlier today about an iOS hack that allowed users to circumvent Apple's in-app purchase system and get access to in-app items without paying for them. The hack doesn't require users be jailbroken, only that they install a couple of certificates and tweak a DNS record in their Wi-Fi settings. A video with instructions on how to take advantage of the hack was posted to YouTube earlier this week, and now Apple has issued a response to the situation. Apple's statement to The Loop:
“The security of the App Store is incredibly important to us and the developer community. We take reports of fraudulent activity very seriously and we are investigating.”
While the hack doesn't work for all applications, and it seems unlikely that many people would've actually ever bought the content that they stole, it's still something that could cause developers to lose out on purchases and it's good to see Apple responding to the issue. It's unclear how much longer the hack will be active, but I'm guessing it won't be long. We'll pass along any other details on the situation as we get 'em.
