Apple may just be less concerned about it, researchers have noted
Apple claims to be a front runner when it comes to giving protection to users’ privacy.
The company has appeared to openly demonstrate its commitment to keeping personal information very private.
Using this to differentiate itself from other tech companies like Facebook and Google whose policy on users’ privacy positions appears to be unfavorable to people.
Going by this level upholding privacy, it will certainly appear as a surprise that Apple iOS devices are susceptible to vulnerability.
And it may come as another surprise that Apple has no intention of fixing the privacy vulnerability.
Also read, Protecting Your Devices From Apps That Steal User Data
The flaw appears to be on a command we execute daily, “copy and paste”. Have we ever imagined that the information we copied at that point in a spilt second could get intercepted by hackers before we actually paste them?
Most times the information you are copying are very sensitive ones such as password, login details, and address.
For your photos that usually contain metadata such as your location, the vulnerability can make it possible to give out your location during the process of copying and pasting your photo.
In the case of photos, that includes embedded metadata like your location. Location data is especially concerning since it gives away your most personal information: where you are right now.
This is rather obvious as the iOS clipboard is found on any app running on your device and that means that copying any information is visible to any app that will access it.
The vulnerability was pointed out sometimes in January with a review submitted to Apple, the researchers concluded that:
“A user may unwittingly expose their precise location to apps by simply copying a photo taken by the built-in Camera app to the general pasteboard.
Through the GPS coordinates contained in the embedded image properties, any app used by the user after copying such a photo to the pasteboard can read the location information stored in the image properties, and accurately infer a user’s precise location.
This can happen completely transparently and without user consent.”
However, Apple has taken a different position on the vulnerability, claiming it is a loophole and not a bug as claimed by researchers.
From indications, Apple appears to block all attempts from malicious app trying to flood the App store, however, the appearance (clipboard) of this vulnerability is making Apple not to flag it down.
To date, this vulnerability hasn’t been exploited, nevertheless, hackers sees it as a potential gold mine.
It is left to the user to be wary of how apps are making use of their information.
Featured Image: mobilesupportplus
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