The company is rushing to fix a glitch that may let other iPhone users hear and see you \u2013 before you answer the call<\/p>\n
By Tomas Foltyn, security writer at ESET<\/p>\n
Apple is promising to issue a software update later this week to fix a strange and serious bug in Apple\u2019s video and audio call app FaceTime that can be easily exploited to spy on people, according to a 9to5Mac report.<\/p>\n
This is after another report on the site revealed late yesterday that the glitch allows any iPhone user to video-call another iPhone user via FaceTime and listen in on the audio on the other end \u2013 before the recipient has accepted or rejected the incoming call.<\/p>\n
How does it work? In short, the caller would initiate a FaceTime video call and immediately afterwards launch the app\u2019s group calling feature by tapping on \u2018Add person\u2019 and adding their own phone number. That\u2019s all it takes to trick FaceTime into believing that the recipient has just answered the \u2018conference call\u2019, enabling the caller to hear the audio on the other end \u2013 unbeknownst to the victim.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile on the screen of the victim\u2019s device, it would appear as if the phone were still ringing with the FaceTime request.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/BmManski\/status\/1089967572307640325What is more, while it was at first believed that \u2018only\u2019 the audio can be exposed, BuzzFeed News later wrote that the bug can apparently also activate the front-facing video camera of the recipient\u2019s handset. If the recipient dismisses or silences the incoming FaceTime conference call by pressing the power button or one of the volume controls, their handset will begin to send live video, too. Again, this happens with zero awareness on the victim\u2019s part.<\/p>\n
The \u2018exploit\u2019, so simple as to being bizarre, is also \u2018deployed\u2019 when making a FaceTime call from an iPhone to a Mac computer. According to the CNN, the bug affects iPhones and iPads running iOS 12.1, which introduced Group FaceTime, as well as computers running macOS Mojave.<\/p>\n
The issue has attracted the attention of Governor of New York Andrew M. Cuomo, who called the bug \u201can egregious breach of privacy\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Verge reports that Apple\u2019s disabling of Group FaceTime has largely fixed things while the software update is in the works. If that doesn\u2019t ease your concerns, however, you may want to deactivate the app until Apple delivers the update.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The company is rushing to fix a glitch that may let other iPhone users hear and see you \u2013 before you answer the call By Tomas Foltyn, security writer at ESET Apple is promising to issue a software update later this week to fix a strange and serious bug in Apple\u2019s video and audio call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"1","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_pr_autopilot_social_copy":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph_description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph_image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph_image_id":0,"_yoast_wpseo_twitter_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter_description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter_image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter_image_id":0,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_extra_hide_author_box":"","_extra_featured_post":"","_partner_post_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[439],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n