Apple today said it is working on a fix for a recently-discovered privacy bug in iPhone that allows its voice assistant Siri to read out some messages loud- even when they are hidden, and the device is locked.
The bug, discovered by Brazilian website Mac Magazine earlier this week, reveals hidden messages that appear as notifications on a locked iPhone running iOS 11 with a simple voice command: “Hey Siri, read my notifications.”
“We are aware of the issue, and it will be addressed in an upcoming software update,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement.
The bug enables Siri to read out messages received from third-party apps like Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and Signal. Apple’s iMessage or SMS texts, however, does not affect from the glitch.
The Apple devices running iOS 11.2.6 and beta version of iOS 11.3 have reportedly been affected by the bug.
The Bug in iPhone allows Siri to read out some messages loud even when they are hidden, and the device is locked.
So How You Can Secure Your Privacy
By the time Apple rolls an update containing a fix, we have two workarounds that will help you protect your privacy.
Disable access to Siri when the device is unlocked (Go to Settings > Siri and turn off the slider underneath Allow Siri When Locked heading).
Alternatively, you can turn off notification previews for sensitive messaging apps (Go to Settings and select an app from the list. Now tap Notifications > Show on Lock Screen and choose Never.)
It was third security-related controversy to hit Apple in the last five months.
In February, Apple confirmed a leak of its source code for iBoot, a critical component of iOS that is responsible for all security checks, on Github.
However, the code was taken down after the California-based company served a notice to the website.
In November 2017, Researchers from Vietnamese security company Bkav showed that Apple’s biometric authentication Face ID technology, which the company claims that cannot be tricked to unlock its devices, could be fooled through a 3D print mask.
