Apple 's GroupFaceTime bug , which was revealed on Monday, caught everyone by surprise. However, someone tried to warn the company about it last week.
A Twitter user with the handle @MGT7500, who was identified by the Wall Street Journal as Michele Thompson, used the social media platform on January 20 to warn Apple's Support page as well as Fox News.
"My son found a major security flaw in Apple's new iOS. It can listen to your iPhone/iPad without your permission," Thompson wrote, "I have video. Bug report filed with @AppleSupport.".
When news of the bug went viral on Monday night, another Twitter user, John H. Meyer, discovered Thompson's tweet and shared the video that proved the bug had indeed existed since last week.
According to the newspaper, the bug was discovered by Thompson's son, Grant, while he was playing "Fortnite" and FaceTimed with friends.
Meyer, a venture capitalist at Transpire Ventures, told USA TODAY via Twitter that after a quick search of Thompson’s profile, he realized that she “has been trying to draw attention to this issue for a week by informing Apple and many other news orgs.” Meyer finally spoke to Thompson on the phone Tuesday morning.
In subsequent tweets, Meyer, who has more than 9,100 followers, shared additional information. Thompson, Meyer says, is an Arizona lawyer and mother of a 14-year-old who discovered the bug on Saturday, Jan. 19.
While Thompson notified Apple via Twitter on Jan. 20, she also sent an official notice to the company on Jan. 25, warning them of the bug. Meyer showed screenshots the woman gave him, including an email sent to Apple's product-security@apple.com address. The company has provided this address so that users can report issues to the company.
In subsequent tweets, Thompson says that Apple asked her to register as a developer in order to submit the bug report, which she did despite not being “tech savvy.”.
Meyer also shared a screenshot of the bug report the mother sent to Apple on January 25.
After news of the bug broke, Apple finally disabled Group FaceTime late Monday night. The company told USA Today and other media outlets, “We are aware of the issue and have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week.”.
Apple declined to say more when USA Today asked about Thompson's attempts to contact the company.
As for Meyer, he says that "what happened was absolutely unthinkable.".
"At first I thought it was a lie. When I learned, early this morning, that this was discovered by a 14-year-old and that his mother had been trying for days to bring this to Apple's attention, I was surprised (and very angry)," he wrote in a message to USA TODAY.
“I was angry because it seemed to have been ignored for quite some time, while an issue was reported that could affect the privacy of millions of people, as well as our national security,” he added, noting that government employees use iPhones.
