A US teenager who discovered a security flaw in Apple's FaceTime video-calling system has been given a bug bounty. Apple has not revealed the exact amount it is giving 14-year-old Grant Thompson but it is believed to include money tohelp pay for his education. The teenager found a bug that meant he could briefly eavesdrop on recipients to a group FaceTime call.
The reward comes as one security researcher refused to tell Apple about a bug because no bounty was on offer. Cash call. Information about the bug first emerged in late January and revealed that some Apple users could secretly listen to people they called via FaceTime even if the recipient did not accept the call.
Apple deemed it so serious that it disabled the group FaceTime
feature while it investigated and produced a fix.
feature while it investigated and produced a fix.
News reports about the problem initially said it was just being discussed on social media and did not credit any individual with its discovery.
Later, it emerged that Apple had been warned about it earlier in January by Grant and his mother. The teenager uncovered the problem when using FaceTime to talk about strategies for the Fortnite game with friends.
Mrs Thompson sent several emails and other messages to Apple warning about the vulnerability but initially got no response.
Now, Apple has credited Grant, who's from Catalina, in Arizona, with finding the flaw. News about his reward came on the day that Apple issued a software update that fixed the bug.
No details
Apple's bug bounty policy has led one security researcher to withhold details on a password-stealing vulnerability in the MacOS operating system.
German bug hunter Linus Henze said he would not release details of the problem to Apple until it included MacOS in its bounty programme. Currently Apple only pays for bugs found in the iOS operating system for phones. In addition, security experts have to be invited to take part in the programme that pays up to $200,000 (£154,300) for the most serious bugs.
"My motivation is to get Apple to create a bug bounty program. I think that this is the best for both Apple and researchers,"
he told tech news site the Register.
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FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Endy Edeson
Sure, anyone could have discovered it. He made efforts in letting Apple know about the bug
Endy Edeson
That is right Callix: Do you FaceTime? If so, I have updated the app to fix the bug on your phone?
Endy Edeson
@Jesse: Maybe, that could be the reason but it's too OPEN to detect for SPY purpose. Anyone could have easily figured out the bug.
I think they probably want to promote Fortnite game as the teenager discovered the bug when he was chatting about the GAME
I think they probably want to promote Fortnite game as the teenager discovered the bug when he was chatting about the GAME
Aruoture Goodie
If there's one thing that give apple concern, its security flaws, trust me, they dnt joke with it... That's y Tim Cook was quick to counter Zuckerberg abt Fb privacy leakage last yr... And Dats y apple call out competitions to hackers anytime a new release comes out (phone or IOS app)... So seeing dat without calling on an event is a big slap on their face, especially when d kid kept sending msgs... So not necessarily advertising a game ..
