According to Reuters, software pirates have hijacked tech designed by Apple to distribute hacked versions of Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go, Minecraft and other popular apps on iPhones, Reuters has found.
The article says by using enterprise developer certificates, these pirate operations are providing modified versions of popular apps to consumers, enabling them to stream music without ads and to circumvent fees and rules in games, depriving Apple and legitimate app makers of revenue. This violates the rules of Apple’s developer programs, which only allow apps to be distributed to the general public through the App Store.
Apple Developer Program membership is required to request, download, and use signing certificates issued by Apple. For developers part of a team enrolled as an organization, you must also be the account holder or an admin to request distribution certificates used for submitting apps to the App Store.
In most cases, Xcode is the preferred method to request and install digital certificates for iOS and macOS. However, to request certificates for the Apple Push Notification service, Apple Wallet, Mobile Device Management (MDM), and Safari extensions, you will need to request and download them from Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles in your account on the developer website.