Apple has made user privacy a priority for years, pushing even further with its latest iOS update by forcing all app developers to ask iPhone owners if they want to be tracked.
Apple has made user privacy a priority for years, pushing even further with its latest iOS update by forcing all app developers to ask iPhone owners if they want to be tracked. These are positive steps toward putting users in control of their data, but according to a new report from security researchers at Germany’s Technical University of Darmstadt, Apple has failed to address a flaw that the university says it made the company aware of in 2019. The security flaw that the researchers discovered is within AirDrop, which is a feature that allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to quickly and easily share photos and documents wirelessly. As the researchers note, you can make it so AirDrop only displays devices owned by people who are already in your contacts. In order to determine if someone is in your contacts, “AirDrop uses a mutual authentication mechanism that compares a user’s phone number and email address with entries in the other user’s address book.
