iPhone Security News: Analyst Warns 'Loophole' on Apps Permission Enables Them to Automatically Take Pictures and Videos

By Jessica Ferrera, Christian Post Contributor Monday, October 30, 2017

A security analyst has recently revealed that a "privacy loophole" on the iOS can let applications automatically take pictures when they are running.

According to Felix Krause, the said loophole came with the granting of a set of permissions once the applications were installed or used.

Allowing apps to use a device's camera or microphone can seem harmless, and in fact, most of the smartphone's apps now need access to some of the device's hardware to fully function. However, the problem is there is a possibility that these permissions can be exploited where the camera might be taking pictures without the smartphone user's knowledge and simply because the permitted apps are just running in the background.

Krause reminded users that once iOS apps are given access to the device's camera, that application can access both cameras, capture images when an app is running in the foreground and may also automatically upload photos and videos without asking the user first. It might also "run real-time face recognition to detect facial features or expressions."

The said camera activities can happen "without indicating that your phone is recording you and your surrounding, no LEDs, no light or any other kind of indication," Krause added.

To prove his research, Krause wrote a social media app named watch.user just for the sake of demonstrating that when installed, it would ask the user to grant it permission to use the iPhone's camera.

On the demo video, Krause showed how the app was able to automatically take photos while he simply scrolled on the app's user interface. Photos were taken without any notice to the user (Krause, in this case) before capturing images and posting them.

Since app permissions are required to successfully install an application or fully use them, Krause enumerated a number of other ways how users can protect themselves from having their photos taken without them knowing, and this involves the use of "camera covers." Since there is no way of telling when an app is taking photo in the foreground, literally covering the cameras is one of the easiest and most obvious options for privacy protection.