A major Apple privacy bug. Five words that when put together become a very surprising and fascinating statement.
Its been a while since Apple truly made a big mistake in its software, over a year since users could log into a Macbook with the username root and no password. This latest mistake isn’t something to strengthen Apple’s security and privacy strong direction, a FaceTime bug that lets you hear the audio from who you are calling before they pick up and even if they don’t pickup.
Severe bug affecting privacy
To further make the issue that bit more severe users then found methods of viewing the video feed of someone who hasn’t accepted/declined your FaceTime call yet. A very serious bug that has broken privacy big time.
You can “spy” on iPhone users simply by knowing their email/phone number and thankfully Apple shut down the FaceTime servers once the internet and media got wind of this situation.
The Tweet that started it all was this:
My teen found a major security flaw in Apple’s new iOS. He can listen in to your iPhone/iPad without your approval. I have video. Submitted bug report to @AppleSupport…waiting to hear back to provide details. Scary stuff! #apple #bugreport @foxnews
— MGT7 (@MGT7500) January 21, 2019
Sent over nine days ago, Yet it finally got picked up and made known. Apple had done nothing about it publicly during the nine days perhaps in their eyes the massive privacy bug didn’t exist if no one knew about it and they would silently patch it in a few weeks.
Apple slow to react
Apple knew about the bug but did not shut down FaceTime, they didn’t want the shame.
Thankfully the issue gained traction and Apple now will have to push an update a lot quicker. It still shows though that Apple was hoping to just fix the exploit without anyone knowing it existed, nasty.
Another example of a major company making a massive mistake.
- The QandA testers didn’t pick it up.
- How can the scenario (play audio without accepting) exists anyway?
- Apples failure to handle the situation promptly, sweep it under the rug whilst fixing it.
Apple can have all its billions of dollars, all its users across many products and years of hard work becoming a quality technology company but it makes a mistake that even a small 4 man app dev team wouldn’t make.
Is it just massive misfortune? or will we see big bugs popping up from other big tech companies in the future?
Who knows because if Apple can ship this bug out with IOS 12.1 there may well be other nasties hiding in popular apps and websites.
You can only hope Apple pull it together as a privacy bug like this FaceTime one does make you question whats next?