No one wants to get hacked, especially right now.
With everyone staying at home because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the demand for video conferencing apps has exploded.
Unfortunately for many of us, these same apps are vulnerable to many of the exploits that others are and this includes taking control of your camera, viewing content through it, and even potentially taking pictures with it – all without your knowledge.
But, if you’re talented enough to find these issues before they become a major news item, companies are willing to pay you big bucks. White-hat hacker Ryan Pickren discovered this exploit back in mid-December 2019 and Apple began patching the issue in January and through March of this year. How it worked was by an attacker sending the target malicious links through text messages. These links would then reroute you and your phone through a series of things that would end up giving them control over your camera.
As Engadget points out, that’s just another reason to update your phone regularly. Or maybe also a story about not clicking on links from random sources that you don’t know about. Either/or, we guess.
We don’t often report on hacking attempts on phones but we did bring you a story last year about an exploit that gave attackers full control over your phone. That was quickly patched up but it was a scary time for the world’s largest smartphone platform nonetheless.
Have you ever been hacked? What was your experience? Let us know your story and thoughts in the comments section below if you like.
Also, don’t forget to check out some of the other photography news articles we have here on Light Stalking. You can do that by clicking right here.
[Engadget]
