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Rumor mill: FaceTime bug was submitted to Apple on 20 January 2019 by a concerned mother after .. her 14-year-old son discovered it. >My teen found a major sec

Rumor mill: FaceTime bug was submitted to Apple on 20 January 2019 by a concerned mother after .. her 14-year-old son discovered it. >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 [0] https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1087171594756083713?s=21 https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1087171594756083713?s=21

samcday 8y ago
If the mother did in fact submit a ticket a week ago, it's pretty shameful that the escalation / verification process took more than a week for a bug of this severity.
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npunt 8y ago
Interesting twitter account. First tweet 1/1/19, few followers, mostly politics, then a major bug report (not only in discovery but in knowing how to go through the reporting process). Not saying it’s fake at all - it looks 100% legitimate - but it adds some extra bit of weirdness to this story. Quite the providence, and a really bad bug. (edited for clarity)
- neya 8y ago
  The genuineness of the Twitter account is absolutely irrelevant in contrast to the validity of the bug itself. Apple was reported a high priority bug at a specific time. Who reported it, how they look like, what their Twitter profile looks like should have no impact on Apple's bug fixing process and how long/short they took to fix the bug.
  - npunt 8y ago
    Oh I’m not questioning the existence or importance of the bug. It’s important and a big screwup. However, I am extra sensitive to the degree to which twitter is being manipulated for all sorts of ends. Sometimes things look more than a bit fishy. Usually major bug reports don’t come from 2019’s version of egg avatar + letters/numbers username + very recent activity consisting almost entirely of political posts + past tweets with interactions with obvious political manipulation bots. That is on the stranger end of things, you have to admit. To be clear I think it’s real, but also real weird.
    - blazespin 8y ago
      What possible motivation would anyone have for reporting a real bug of this nature like this? Other than, yeah, found a crazy bug.
      - npunt 8y ago
        Stock manipulation perhaps? Happens a lot with Tesla apparently, short sellers will pump up any negative story and try to get it into press. This person was making several attempts to get in contact with press after all, and a story about a teenager finding a big privacy bug in a company that publicly touts its privacy chops has ‘news at 11’ written all over it. Personally I think a bug report story is not a particularly plausible strategy for such a thing - this person’s concern seems entirely genuine - but crazier things have been done for money. I’m relatively skeptical of complaints from companies about short sellers and bad press, but also recognize that stock manipulation happens a lot more than most ppl are aware of.
        Twisell 8y ago
        Also timing, Apple publish their quarterly earning results this afternoon in an already peculiar context. It’s the first time they missed guidance over the decade. Ps: As others noted maybe it’s fair enough if support failed to acknowledge the bug quickly enough.
        8y ago
- docbrown 8y ago
  While the account does seem a bit odd — especially in our current state — it stills boils down to the fact someone discovered a bug and they seem to have receipts. Linked tweet shows an email signature on reply from “Deven” of “Apple Product Security” and the senders original message. >> https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21
  - npunt 8y ago
    Ya that poorly obscured email in the message is strongest evidence to suggest this is a real twitter account & story - I believe it’s legitimate. Which makes this story really interesting, that the kid found it, the parent knew how to bug report, the parent went to a twitter account they only recently started using to try to get the word out, and nothing happened. Goes to show process needs improvement and that bug reports truly can come from anywhere.
- jakobegger 8y ago
  They just contacted Apple Support to report the bug. The "proper" way to report bugs to apple would be to use bugreport.apple.com.
- josefresco 8y ago
  I too found it odd and only looked into it because she chose to tag one (and only one) "news org" in the post @foxnews - Without the bug report, her account looks like many that have been "taken over" or re-purposed by political operatives.
- buzzert 8y ago
  At the bottom of the screenshot attached to this post you can see her extortion attempt: https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 I am willing to give details and provide a home video that I to ok to show you the flaw, but would like to discuss this with someone prior to doing so... It is unclear whether Apple provides a reward program for non-... [cut off] I'm not surprised Apple didn't respond to this message.

samcday 8y ago

If the mother did in fact submit a ticket a week ago, it's pretty shameful that the escalation / verification process took more than a week for a bug of this severity.

deleted 8y ago
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npunt 8y ago

Interesting twitter account. First tweet 1/1/19, few followers, mostly politics, then a major bug report (not only in discovery but in knowing how to go through the reporting process). Not saying it’s fake at all - it looks 100% legitimate - but it adds some extra bit of weirdness to this story. Quite the providence, and a really bad bug. (edited for clarity)

neya 8y ago
The genuineness of the Twitter account is absolutely irrelevant in contrast to the validity of the bug itself. Apple was reported a high priority bug at a specific time. Who reported it, how they look like, what their Twitter profile looks like should have no impact on Apple's bug fixing process and how long/short they took to fix the bug.
- npunt 8y ago
  Oh I’m not questioning the existence or importance of the bug. It’s important and a big screwup. However, I am extra sensitive to the degree to which twitter is being manipulated for all sorts of ends. Sometimes things look more than a bit fishy. Usually major bug reports don’t come from 2019’s version of egg avatar + letters/numbers username + very recent activity consisting almost entirely of political posts + past tweets with interactions with obvious political manipulation bots. That is on the stranger end of things, you have to admit. To be clear I think it’s real, but also real weird.
  - blazespin 8y ago
    What possible motivation would anyone have for reporting a real bug of this nature like this? Other than, yeah, found a crazy bug.
    - npunt 8y ago
      Stock manipulation perhaps? Happens a lot with Tesla apparently, short sellers will pump up any negative story and try to get it into press. This person was making several attempts to get in contact with press after all, and a story about a teenager finding a big privacy bug in a company that publicly touts its privacy chops has ‘news at 11’ written all over it. Personally I think a bug report story is not a particularly plausible strategy for such a thing - this person’s concern seems entirely genuine - but crazier things have been done for money. I’m relatively skeptical of complaints from companies about short sellers and bad press, but also recognize that stock manipulation happens a lot more than most ppl are aware of.
      - Twisell 8y ago
        Also timing, Apple publish their quarterly earning results this afternoon in an already peculiar context. It’s the first time they missed guidance over the decade. Ps: As others noted maybe it’s fair enough if support failed to acknowledge the bug quickly enough.
      - 8y ago
docbrown 8y ago
While the account does seem a bit odd — especially in our current state — it stills boils down to the fact someone discovered a bug and they seem to have receipts. Linked tweet shows an email signature on reply from “Deven” of “Apple Product Security” and the senders original message. >> https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21
- npunt 8y ago
  Ya that poorly obscured email in the message is strongest evidence to suggest this is a real twitter account & story - I believe it’s legitimate. Which makes this story really interesting, that the kid found it, the parent knew how to bug report, the parent went to a twitter account they only recently started using to try to get the word out, and nothing happened. Goes to show process needs improvement and that bug reports truly can come from anywhere.
jakobegger 8y ago
They just contacted Apple Support to report the bug. The "proper" way to report bugs to apple would be to use bugreport.apple.com.
josefresco 8y ago
I too found it odd and only looked into it because she chose to tag one (and only one) "news org" in the post @foxnews - Without the bug report, her account looks like many that have been "taken over" or re-purposed by political operatives.
buzzert 8y ago
At the bottom of the screenshot attached to this post you can see her extortion attempt: https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 https://twitter.com/mgt7500/status/1090079031666438144?s=21 I am willing to give details and provide a home video that I to ok to show you the flaw, but would like to discuss this with someone prior to doing so... It is unclear whether Apple provides a reward program for non-... [cut off] I'm not surprised Apple didn't respond to this message.