How would you rephrase this then? IMHO the words were chosen correctly, because it doesn't blindly say "App is safe, go on". No, it explicitly states that it was checked by Apple and it is considered safe by Apple. It doesn't mean you should fully trust it by default.
> How does Apple check against malicious software?
KB page says "[...] The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues [...]"
Re:Notarizing Your App Before Distribution
by saagarjha on Monday April 08, 2019 @08:30PM
(#19610525)
> How does Apple check against malicious software? What is even considered "malicious" software?
It's an automated check that Apple has not disclosed.
Re:Notarizing Your App Before Distribution
by applecrazy on Monday April 08, 2019 @10:01PM
(#19611052)
I see how this can help protect against outright malware. However, what if there's a flaw in the heuristics, and some malware slips through the cracks? Sure, they can fix their malware scanner, but will they take the time to retroactively scan all software with their new and improved scanner? Will they even store every single notarized app on their servers for this to be feasible? Or will they mandate re-notarization every now and then?
So many questions, hopefully Apple answers these soon.
Edit: phrasing
How does Apple check against malicious software? What is even considered "malicious" software? Software that someone might consider benign might be considered malicious by someone else - it isn't a black and white thing.
The UI just provides a false sense of security. I assume they check it for known malware, but it wouldn't do anything against a targeted attack where the malware is custom made and only ever used once. In fact, it would facilitate the attack by giving the user a false sense of security that everything is OK.