Google Divulges Handful of Defects in Apple’s iMessage app

Arpatech Jul 31, 2019

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Tech giant Google has revealed five flaws in Apple’s iMessage software that could make its devices prone to attack.

Researchers at the company said the susceptibility was so severe that the only way to salvage a beleaguered iPhone would be to erase all the data off it.

They said another example could be used to replicate files off a device without requiring the owner to do anything to aid the hack.

Apple issued repairs last week. However, the researchers said they had also highlighted a sixth problem to Apple, which had not been corrected in the update to its mobile operating system.

Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber-security expert at the University of Surrey, commented: “That’s quite unusual.” He said that that the reputation of the Google Zero team is such that it’s worth taking notice of.

The Project Zero team was established in July 2014 to expose formerly undocumented cyber-vulnerabilities. It has previously alerted Microsoft, Facebook and Samsung, among others, to problems with their code.

Apple’s own notes about iOS 12.4 specify that the variable fault could give hackers a means to crash an app or perform commands of their own on recent iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches if they were able to determine it.

Apple has not commented on this particular issue but has advised users to install the new version of iOS, which addresses Google’s other detections as well as a further range of malfunctions and threats.

“Keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Apple product’s security,” it said in a statement.