Apple has removed hundreds of apps from the iTunes App Store that secretly collected personal information from anyone who downloaded them.

苹果公司已经从苹果商店中下架了上百个应用软件，这些应用都涉及秘密收集用户私人信息。

Most of the 256 affected apps were made in China, but they were available worldwide on the app store and were downloaded 1 million times, according to app analytics service SourceDNA, which first discovered the problem.

根据一款名叫SourceDNA的分析服务应用软件提供的数据，这次下架的256个应用中大部分出自中国，但是他们在苹果商店中面向了全球，而且已经被下载了100万次。也正是这个软件第一个发现了这个窃取信息的问题。

The apps' creators used a software development kit from a Chinese advertising company called Youmi, which allowed the developers to put ads in their apps. That's kosher.

这款应用的创始人使用了一款由名叫有米的中国广告公司提供的软件开发系统，这个软件让应用软件开发者可以在自己的应用里加入广告，这是可以的。

But Youmi's software gathered information about the people who downloaded the apps, including their email addresses and iPhone serial numbers -- sending all that data to Youmi's servers. That skirted Apple's strict privacy guidelines for app developers.

但是有米的软件从下载了它的使用者哪里收集了信息，包括电子邮箱和电话序列号，并且将所有数据穿回给有米的服务器。这种做法有悖于苹果公司对应用软件开发者严格的隐私保护要求。

And the way Youmi designed the software hid that fact from the developers and Apple's iTunes App Store gatekeepers.

而且有米这个软件的设计方式将事实隐藏起来，使其不被使用它的软件开发者和苹果商店的守卫发现。

SourceDNA did not say which apps were affected. The company told Apple about the problem on Sunday, and Apple removed the apps on Monday.

SourceDNA 没有说那些应用软件受到影响。这家公司于周日向苹果公司举报了这件事，苹果公司在周一就移除了这些违规的应用软件。

"This is a violation of our security and privacy guidelines," Apple said in a statement. "The apps using Youmi's SDK will be removed from the App Store and any new apps submitted to the App Store using this SDK will be rejected."

“这是对我们的安保系统和隐私保护条例的一次攻击，”苹果公司公开表示，“使用了有米的SDK的应用软件都将会被从苹果商店里清除，而且所有申请在苹果商店上架的应用如果使用这个SDK也将会被拒绝。”

Anyone who already downloaded the apps will still be able to use them but the apps won't be updated.

任何已经下载了这些应用的用户还能够继续使用，但是这些应用将不能再上传数据了。

The data collection does not appear to be the developers' fault, since Youmi was disguising the fact that its software was sending that data to its servers. Apple said it is working with the app developers to update their apps, ensuring they are safe for customers and in compliance with the app store's guidelines. The apps are banned from the store until they are fixed.

收集信息并不是软件开发者的失误，因为是有米在隐瞒事实，这些被窃取的数据实际上都是传回到了它自己的服务器里。苹果公司表示他们正在和应用软件的开发者一起解决问题，重新上载这些应用，保证它们现在对消费者是安全的并且完全遵守苹果商店的规定的。被禁止使用的应用在修护好了之后仍然可以重新回到商店。

This is the third big lapse in Apple's typically tight app store security in the past month.

这是上个月苹果公司一直严苛的苹果商店安全系统的第三次大漏洞。

Last week, Apple banned a group of apps that were able to peek into encrypted communications between the iPhones they were installed on and the servers the phones communicated with.

上周，苹果公司又叫停了一组偷窥苹果用户之间加密的聊天内容的应用软件，安装了这些软件的电话和与这部电话有信息交流的服务器都遭到了偷窥。上周，苹果公司又叫停了一组偷窥苹果用户之间加密的聊天内容的应用软件，安装了这些软件的电话和与这部电话有信息交流的服务器都遭到了偷窥。

In late September, the app store suffered a major attack, forcing Apple to remove dozens of popular apps that had been infected by malware. The malicious apps were capable of duping customers into giving up their iCloud passwords and opening dangerous websites.

九月底，苹果公司遭到了一次大型攻击，导致苹果不得不移除几十个受到恶意软件攻击的热门应用。这些恶意软件可以骗用户说出他们的苹果云秘密，或者打开危险的网页。