In the News
Last week’s FaceTime controversy has not been resolved. In Apple fixes Facetime eavesdrop bug, with software update incoming, Zack Whittaker at TechCrunch reports that Apple has resolved the security flaw which allowed for individuals to listen in on conversations before a user answered a FaceTime request. Whittaker also states that Apple will be rolling out a new update in the coming weeks which will re-introduce Group FaceTime.
Our Take
FaceTime is an incredibly useful iPhone feature allowing individuals to have a more personal over the phone conversation through face-to-face contact. Typically, to maintain your privacy and information security, one should refrain from discussing highly sensitive topics such as health records or financial matters over FaceTime, but the eavesdropping bug identified last week puts your privacy even more at risk. The danger of the eavesdropping bug was that an individual could listen to a conversation without the other individual’s knowledge. This poses many issues regarding consent of information access, but also means that your conversation may be accessed by another individual and the information exposed by this may damage your data privacy. While it is good that Apple resolved this issue, stricter standards must be in place to make sure incidents such as this one do not happen in the future and put more user’s at risk.
Recommendations
How can you protect your personal and financial information from data breaches?
- Use safe password practices, and take advantage of Multi-factor Authentication where possible
- Enable privacy settings when they are available and disable access to camera, microphone, or photos if they are not necessary to the function of a specific app
- Check your email, financial accounts, and credit reports regularly for abnormal activities
- Stay up to date on the news regarding to see if you may have been affected