Apple issues fix for FaceTime bug that allowed eavesdropping on calls

Apple has released an update to its iOS 12 operating system on iPhones and iPads. Bloomberg reported that the update comes with a fix for a bug that allowed users to eavesdrop on others before they accepted or rejected a Group FaceTime video call.

The Associated Press reported that iOS 12.1.4 was released Thursday.

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The glitch was discovered by 14-year-old Grant Thompson, a high school freshman in Tucson, Arizona, according to The AP.

"I'm only 14 and I found it by accident, instead of the people at Apple that get paid to find glitches," he told The AP Friday.

Thompson and his mother contacted Apple about the bug, and it took the company a week to respond.

CNBC reported that Apple released a statement apologizing to Thompson and other customers Feb. 1, confirming that a fix was made. The company said it disabled the Group FaceTime feature before the update was issued:

"We have fixed the Group FaceTime security bug on Apple's servers and we will issue a software update to re-enable the feature for users next week. We thank the Thompson family for reporting the bug. We sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected and all who were concerned about this security issue. We appreciate everyone's patience as we complete this process.

"We want to assure our customers that as soon as our engineering team became aware of the details necessary to reproduce the bug, they quickly disabled Group FaceTime and began work on the fix. We are committed to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible. We take the security of our products extremely seriously and we are committed to continuing to earn the trust Apple customers place in us."

The software update, which is recommended for all users, can be found by navigating to the General section under Settings and selecting Software Update.

Cox Media Group