How Apple could miss a privacy-invading FaceTime security flaw
A major flaw in Apple’s FaceTime feature allowing callers to eavesdrop on call recipients was widely publicized yesterday, close to three months after the flaw may have been introduced. Apple has made a point of billing itself as the privacy-conscious adult among the tech giants, and it usually employs strict security measures and a meticulous approach to hunting bugs. So in this case, why didn’t Apple catch such a major flaw before it went public?
Part of the problem is the rough history of the feature itself. The flaw has to do with FaceTime’s new group chatting feature, which Apple pulled from later iOS 12 betas and delayed the release of until this past October. Three months is a long time for a bug this bad to be active, but it also...