Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all are having a wonderful day and have been protecting your privacy. This week hasn't been as hectic as the previous ones, but I am proud to say I've been very productive. It's been nice getting acquainted with the incoming freshman of the computer science department this week and I'm looking forward to a great semester.
In today's discussion, I wanted to know what you all thought about Apple's latest bug epidemic with their Facetime feature. Before I discuss the issue and how it surfaced the internet, I'll give an introduction of the feature. So for all my android users, FaceTime is an application developed by Apple for the purpose of audio and video calling. At the end of last year, Apple released group Facetime, and in my opinion, the bug was released with the new update. The application is very convenient and user friendly as a means of communicating.
Could you believe a 14 year old boy discovered the bug and even tested it out with his friends? It does not come as a shock to me because kids nowadays are buried into their tech devices - whether it's an iPad, iPhone, laptop, or video games. My only concern is the amount of time it took for the company to realize their was a bug in their products. Basically, the application had turned into an eavesdropping tool right before our eyes. Imagine not answering a facetime call and the other person can accept from their end and listen in on your conversation or important meeting. That's confidential information and a law suite right up Apple's alley.
On Monday, Apple disabled it's group facetime feature after finding out other users discovered the bug and posted videos of it on the internet. Apple gave a statement to CNN that they were identifying a fix for the bug and that they planned on sending an update later on in the week. I received the update on last night, Wednesday, but I haven't updated my phone just yet. It had been nine whole days between the 14 year old kid discovering the bug and Apple acknowledging the issue and fixing it. I watched the video when it surfaced Twitter's platform and I immediately turned my facetime off. Did you receive facetime calls and didn't answer them only to find out the person on the other end answered it for you? If so, what was your reaction? Did you take action?
Grant's mother did. She tried faxing over a written documentation to Apple stating what her son had discovered in hopes of getting their attention. On January 20th, she even posted about the issue on Facebook and Twitter to the CEO, Tim Cook, and the post was written as "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! "
Scary stuff ehh? A MAJOR SECURITY FLAW! I don't know how you guys responded but situations as such makes me think about other flaws that hasn't been discovered but can serve as a threat to us. I get nervous opening my laptop when I don't have my camera cover. As I stated in the abstract section of my documentation for my Capstone project, "Privacy is an important factor in one's life and one main reason may be the consequence of not having any. The world has changed in many ways to make people think they are being protected with the new advances of technology and innovations but it can be a threat in many cases." I am a supporter of Apple's products because I purchase and use them everyday, but I will be researching more on how I can take precautions when dealing with these new updates and changes. If you haven't already, you should research about the bug issue and return to my blog to discuss it with me.
If you would like to discuss further, please leave a comment or ask a question. I'd love to chat with my readers and hear your thoughts. Thank you for dropping in and remember ToBeSecured!
Above, I've attached a YouTube video of two people showing the bug in the application that allows iPhone users to invade the privacy of other people even if they don't answer the call. Mostly everyone is saying that it's not a bug and that the government and CIA are always spying on us, which is true, and that they're partnering with companies such as Apple to have more access to our private lives. I agree and I am prepared ToBeSecured. Are you?
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