Owners of Apple products have always regarded iOS operating systems as superior and way more secure then, let’s say, Androids. Cocky users often feel that their mobile phones are impossible to hack into as even FBI has struggled to get inside an iPhone mobile phone.
However, it is important to burst this bubble and admit that every device has its strong and weak points. In this article, we will discuss one of the weaker spots in iPhone mobile phones that users should be aware of.
iPhone apps can secretly spy on you and even live-stream your actions
Felix Krause has published a post on 25th of October, explaining that providing camera access to random apps might end in violation of users’ privacy. For instance, being monitored during private moments of their lives like changing or taking a shower.
There are millions of apps that users can download from the app store and start using almost immediately. Many of those tools require access to camera and people provide it without giving this action a second thought. However, some consideration should be done before camera access is given to a random app from the store.
Most common apps that require camera access serve as messaging, photo-editing tools and users could never imagine that these applications could be capable of secretly turning on cameras and stalking them. Krause emphasizes that camera’s LEDs do not always shine when the camera is recording. Therefore, it is basically impossible to recognize when an application decides to spy on you.
Basically, when access to a camera is provided so generously, there is a list of things that an app can do. It can, obviously, access front and back cameras, record at any time it is ran in the background, take pictures/videos without requiring permission, upload recorded material into certain locations and even run real-time face recognition to detect facial features or expressions. Sounds creepy? Maybe next time you will be more careful when giving away access to your camera. Many of the fun “photo-editing” tools could be applications for spying, attempting to continuously record their clients.
How to avoid getting your private moments seen by unknown third-parties?
Naturally, you have to be more observant when it comes to the applications you are downloading into your iPhone. Do not provide these permissions if you feel like that app is not going to serve you discreetly. However, we have to emphasize that Krause did not discover a vulnerability or a flaw in Apple’s products. In fact, this feature is functioning the way developers planned. However, users’ privacy can be violated if these permissions are obtained by rogue tools instead of respectable ones like Facebook or Messenger.
Source: krausefx.com.
