Apple vulnerability: listening by facetime | tagesschau.de

With a simple trick, Appetime users can listen to other Apple owners, even if they do not answer calls. Apple has blocked the group call feature and announces a quick fix.

Apple has blocked the group call feature on the Facetime telephony service after discovering a security breach. Thanks to them, device users could be intercepted – even if they did not pick up.

The website "9to5mac" described the error in an article published on Monday including a video. Therefore, Facetime callers could listen to other iPad and iPhone users during a group call: if a number was called with the help of the service, the Caller could add another person to the call. If he chose his own number as an additional caller, the conference call started without the called party answering the call.

If called users have pressed the stop button instead of accepting, even the camera of their device should have been turned on. The concerned Apple owners have not noticed.

Apple promises a solution "later this week"

Apple said the error had been found and that it will be corrected "later this week" by a software update. Group calls are completely disabled, as indicated on the Apple System Status page.

This feature, which can group up to 32 devices in one call, was added by Apple in late October. It is not clear if the vulnerability has existed since then.

A few hours before the mistake was made, the CEO, Tim Cook, was firmly committed to protecting privacy.

To protect FaceTime, disable it in the settings

Apple promises its devices to ensure the privacy of users through strict encryption.

In the meantime, Apple owners can protect themselves against face-watching by disabling the application in settings.