Apple fixes FaceTime bug, pays bounty to 14-year-old finder

From Apple Public Relations:

Today’s software update fixes the security bug in Group FaceTime. We again apologize to our customers and we thank them for their patience. In addition to addressing the bug that was reported, our team conducted a thorough security audit of the FaceTime service and made additional updates to both the FaceTime app and server to improve security. This includes a previously unidentified vulnerability in the Live Photos feature of FaceTime. To protect customers who have not yet upgraded to the latest software, we have updated our servers to block the Live Photos feature of FaceTime for older versions of iOS and macOS.

Apple has also quietly compensated the Thompson family—son Grant and mother Michelle—for finding and reporting the bug, and has promised to make an additional unspecified gift to support 14-year-old Grant’s education.

My take: That ought to deflect some of the Congressional heat coming Apple’s way for not responding immediately to the Thompsons’ warnings.

See also: Dems target Apple. Again.

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