Cybersecurity experts have uncovered a major systemic privacy bug in the iPhone that is capable of putting users at risk of data exposure.
NaijaOnPoint.com.ng (NOP) reports the cybersecurity experts uncovered the bug in Apple’s Mirroring feature, saying the applications on an employee’s personal iPhone may be exposed to their corporate IT department.
Security software firm Sevco uncovered the bug, detailing that when an iPhone is connected on a work-issued Mac using the feature, it shares data with the company’s IT systems.
They confirmed employees’ apps were stored on the corporate networks accessed by employers.
“For iPhone users, this Apple bug is a major privacy risk because it can expose aspects of their personal lives that they don’t want to share or that could put them at risk.
“This could include exposing a VPN app in a country that restricts access to the internet, a dating app that reveals their sexual orientation in a jurisdiction with limited protections or legal consequences, or an app related to a health condition that an employee simply does not want to share.
“The consequences of such data exposure may be severe.
“For companies, this bug represents a new data liability from potentially collecting private employee data.
“If this bug is not addressed, it may lead to violation of major privacy laws,” Sevco disclosed in a statement.
The security team urged iPhone users to stop using the feature on work computers and companies to identify any enterprise IT systems that collect software inventory from Macs until Apple releases a patch.
“Sevco has notified Apple, who has identified the root cause and is working on a fix.
“We have also notified several enterprise software vendors where Sevco, Apple, and the vendor have common customers and we have confirmed the issue.
“We have also notified our customers that have collected or have the potential to collect private employee data,” the statement added.
In the meantime, iPhone users have been advised not use iPhone Mirroring on work computers.
“We expect Apple to patch macOS before long based on our conversations with them.
“When a patch becomes available, companies will need to apply the patch to stop collecting private employee data.
“After the patch is available, Sevco recommends that companies purge any mistakenly collected employee data to eliminate liability risk,” the statement added.
NOP reports iPhone Mirroring is a new feature that allows a seamless user experience between a person’s phone and laptop.