Apple releases software update to fix the Face Time bug, Read Full News

Apple releases software update to fix the Face Time bug, Read Full News

Last week, Apple temporarily disabled the Group FaceTime feature on iOS 12 and MacOS Mojave after it was discovered that a bug in the app allowed people to listen in on the conversation of their friends even when they had not received the call. And now, nearly 10 days later the Cupertino, California based company has released a software update to fix the flaw.

The company has released the fix in the form of a software update-- iOS 12.1.4 in case of iOS12 and Mojave 10.14.3 in case of macOS - fix the security flaw. "Today's software update fixes the security bug in Group FaceTime. We again apologize to our customers and we thank them for their patience," Apple said in a statement to CNBC News.

Apart from fixing the bug in its group FaceTime feature, the company said that it had also released additional updates to the FaceTime app and its own server to enhance the security of its system. "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," the company added in a statement to the publication.

Notably, the bug was first reported by Michele Thompson after her 14-year-old son discovered the FaceTime bug. Though the company was slow to repond in the beginning, Apple has now announced that it would compensate the boy for reporting the bug to the company. While it remains uncertain how much the company would be paying the teenager, the company has announced that apart from the monetary compensation, it would provide an additional gift to support Grant Thomson's education.

If Apple decides to pay the teenager as a part of its Bug Bounty program, Grant could receive anywhere between $25,000 (Rs 17.82 lakh approximately) and $200,000 (Rs 1.42 million approximately).

Meanwhile, another teenage security researcher from Germany, Linus Henze, has discovered a key exploit in MacOS Mojave that leaves the passwords stored in the operating system vulnerable to hackers. However, Henze has decided not to share the details of the hack with the company.