Scary stuff: This 14-year-old boy first discovered Apple's FaceTime bug
What's the story
Apple recently made the headlines for a bug in its video calling service FaceTime that allowed a user to hear audio and see those they were reaching out to even before their call was answered. Now, a woman from the US has claimed that her 14-year-old son had discovered the bug last week, and had even warned Apple about it. Here are the details.
Details
A discussion about Fortnite on FaceTime led to the discovery
Last week, Michele G Thompson, a lawyer from Arizona, tweeted that her son had discovered the FaceTime bug. She claimed that her 14-year-old son, Grant, discovered the bug on January 19 while talking to his friends about popular battle royale game Fortnite on a group FaceTime call. The bug went public this week.
Twitter Post
READ: Thompson's initial tweet about the bug
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
Warnings
Thompson claimed she tried to warn Apple and its users
After her son informed her about the bug, Thompson claimed that she verified it herself, and spent most of her week trying to warn people that they could be spied upon. She said that she had sent emails, Facebook messages, several tweets, and a fax about the bug, and had even filed a bug report before news about the bug went public.
Twitter Post
READ: An excerpt from a warning email sent to Apple
One of many emails sent to Apple 1 week ago attempting to report the Group FaceTime bug. @cnbc @cnn @foxnews @9to5mac pic.twitter.com/l9IFMZmKh6
— MGT7 (@MGT7500) January 29, 2019
Apple
Apple has promised a fix by this week's end
After the bug went public, Apple promptly disabled the group calling function of FaceTime, and the service will remain suspended till the company releases a software patch to fix the issue. Following its discovery, even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asked his 4.13 million followers to disable FaceTime. Apple has promised that the patch will be out some time this week.
Bug details
What you need to know about the bug
The bug triggers from FaceTime's 'Add Person' option and lets anyone access your phone's microphone. So, in essence, you'd see an incoming FaceTime call but won't realize the other person might be listening in on what you're saying. More worryingly, when you tap the power or volume-down button, FaceTime gives the caller access to your front camera feed (with the call still not answered).
Use
How the FaceTime bug can be triggered
The FaceTime bug can be triggered by starting a call with any iPhone contact and switching to group calling. For this, swipe up the screen while making a call and hit the 'Add Person' option. Then, enter your own number on the 'Add Person' screen to switch into a group call. Voila! You will start getting the audio feed from the recipient's end.