When I learned Monday night about the flaw in FaceTime that someone could exploit to listen to you even before you accepted their call, and after I confirmed in a test with my son’s iPhone that the security flaw was real, I posted about it quickly. But by the time that most of you saw the post, I had already edited it to note that Apple already implemented a temporary fix (for everyone) by pulling the plug on its Group FaceTime server. Nevertheless, my primary concern when I wrote my initial post was the risk of third-party access to a confidential attorney-client communication. Sure enough, on Tuesday, Houston attorney Larry Williams II filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that this is exactly what happened to him, as reported by Laurel Brubaker Calkins of Bloomberg. Of course, just because something is alleged in a lawsuit, that doesn’t mean that it actually happened, and I have some questions about the facts as set forth in the complaint that he filed in Harris County, Texas (which you can read here), and I’m sure that will all be sorted out in discovery. The good news is that, unlike many other companies who have been in the news this week who make money off of invading your privacy, Apple takes privacy very seriously and I presume that they will devote substantial resources towards fixing this bug and coming up with ways to minimize the risk of something similar happening in the future. And now, the other recent news of note:
- Speaking of hacks, Pittsburgh attorney David Ries, who knows a lot about security, discusses the current state of cybersecurity on mobile devices and technology in general in an article for Law Technology Today.
- Joel Schectman and Christopher Bing of Reuters wrote an interesting, and scary, story about a technology called Karma which spies — and who know else — used to hack into iPhones in 2016 and 2017. I have a lot of questions about how this actually worked, but I haven’t yet seen a thoughtful analysis written by a security expert.
- Speaking of how dangerous it is online, Debra Cassens Weiss of ABA Journal reports that an associate at Dentons Canada was duped into transferring $1.5 million into a thief’s account. This isn’t an iPhone story, but is a cautionary tale about cybercrime in general.
- Angela Ahrednts, the head of retail at Apple, talks to Suzy Menkes of Vogue Business about the Apple Store.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that if you were one of the first people to buy AirPods, they are starting to show their age and don’t hold a charge for as long as they used to. I’ve experienced this myself. I still love my AirPods and use them every day, but I can’t go more than about 90 minutes without having to put them in their case for 60 seconds to recharge.
- In Overcast, my favorite app for listening to podcasts, it is now faster than ever to find a new podcast thanks to a new instant search feature. The developer, Marco Arment, describes what is new in this post.
- Lief Johnson of Macworld recommends useful Siri Shortcuts.
- Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider reviews the Satechi 75W Dual USB-C Travel Charger, the first charger I’ve seen which can charge two USB-C devices at once.
- Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reviews Apple’s iPhone Smart Battery Case.
- And finally, Apple produced three cute 15-second videos showing use cases for sending someone money in Apple Pay: Doughnuts, Gift for Dad, and Salsa. Here is the Doughnuts video: