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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 2 February 2019
14-year-old's FaceTime bug discovery could rattle Apple

By MATT O'BRIEN York consumers. James
At the heart of Apple's said her office's review will
shocking FaceTime bug, include a "thorough inves-
which allowed just about tigation into Apple's re-
anyone to turn an iPhone sponse."
into a live microphone, Last October, Apple intro-
stands a 14-year-old boy duced the 32-person video
who stumbled upon the conferencing feature for
eavesdropping flaw more iPhones, iPads and Macs.
than a week before Apple With the bug, a FaceTime
took action. group-chat user calling an-
"The thing that surprised other Apple device could
me the most was that this hear audio — even if the
glitch happened in the first receiver didn't accept the
place," said Grant Thomp- call. The bug was triggered
son, a high school freshman when callers turned a reg-
in Tucson, Arizona. "I'm only ular FaceTime call into a
14 and I found it by acci- group chat, making Face-
dent, instead of the people Time think the receiver had
at Apple that get paid to accepted the chat.
find glitches." In Grant's case, he had just
Not only that, but Grant gotten his Xbox ready and
and his mom said they called to invite a friend, Na-
spent a week unsuccess- than, to play "Fortnite" with
fully trying to get Apple to him online.
do something about the "You can swipe up and add
bug in its FaceTime group- Grant Thompson and his mother, Michele, look at an iPhone in the family's kitchen in Tucson, Ariz., another person, so I added
chatting feature. The bug on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. another friend of mine, Di-
allowed callers to acti- ego, to see if he also want-
vate another person's mi- rights investigation. Others "If a 14-year-old kid discov- get them to the right peo- ed to play," he said. "But as
crophone remotely even are raising questions about ered it, I wonder how many ple as fast as possible." soon as I added Diego, it
before the person has ac- how long it took Apple to other people discovered The company — at first forced Nathan to respond."
cepted or rejected the call. address the bug. it," said Chris Wysopal, chief widely praised for its swift They were shocked at first,
"It took nine days for us to In a statement Friday, Ap- technology officer with the response — could come then tried to repeat the
get a response," he said. ple thanked the Thomp- security firm Veracode. under increased scrutiny bug and it happened ev-
"My mom contacted them sons as it announced that it Apple hasn't said whether it as regulators seek to learn ery time, he said. His moth-
almost every single day has identified a fix and will has records that could an- more about the vulnerabil- er, Michele Thompson, said
through email, calling, fax- release it next week. Face- swer that question. ity. she started trying to reach
ing." Of the fax, he jokes, Time group chatting will re- Friday's statement said New York Attorney Gen- Apple the next day.
"I'm not even sure what sume then. Apple's engineers worked eral Letitia James and "They could have tested it
that is. It's probably older Grant, a straight-A student quickly once it got the de- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said within two minutes, realized
than I am." who plays basketball, does tails needed to reproduce Wednesday that they're in- it was true and brought it
This eavesdropping scare community volunteer- the bug. Although Apple vestigating "Apple's failure up the chain at Apple," said
is over now that Apple has ing and enjoys the video didn't acknowledge a de- to warn consumers about Thompson, who works as
disabled group chats, but game "Fortnite," was calling lay, the company said it the FaceTime bug and slow an attorney. "There needs
the problem could dog the friends to play the game on was "committed to improv- response to addressing the to be a better process for
company for much longer. a Saturday night, Jan. 19, ing the process by which issue." the average citizen to re-
New York state officials when he discovered the we receive and escalate They said the bug jeopar- port things like this. And a
have opened a consumer flaw. these reports, in order to dized the privacy of New timelier response."
She eventually reached
someone who advised that
Companies hope she could register as a soft-
ware developer to submit
vests will ease burden the bug. Such reports can
sometimes lead to "bug
bounties" so that those who
for assembly workers discover a flaw can get a
financial reward. The family
hoped Grant could receive
FLAT ROCK, Mich. (AP) — building Mustangs at the such an award, or at least
Ford Motor Co. and other Flat Rock Assembly Plant in some credit, for his discov-
manufacturers want to suburban Detroit. He says ery. "Every day he would
help their workers take a the exoskeleton makes his ask me, 'Did we hear from
load off. Or at least make job "a whole lot easier and Apple yet?' she said.
it easier to lift a load up. a lot less strenuous." The family tried reaching
Ford is among several Ford piloted the EksoVest In this Sept. 18, 2018, photo Ford assembly line worker Nich- Apple through multiple
companies providing at two U.S. plants before olas Gotts, wearing a new wearable technology called an channels. They left com-
EksoVest, works on a vehicle in Flat Rock, Mich.
wearable technology to deciding last year to ex- Associated Press ments on Twitter, one of
elevate and support their pand its use to 15 factories them directed to CEO Tim
workers' arms. and seven countries. The 6.8 kilograms) per arm. companies that pro- Cook, and uploaded a vid-
Nicholas Gotts wears an vest provides lift assistance Aerospace giant Boe- vide their workers with eo to walk Apple engineers
EksoVest during his shifts for 5 to 15 pounds (2.3 to ing Co. is among other exoskeletons.q through the problem. q