A cybersecurity student showed he could hack into Mac webcams, leaving the devices open to attack.
Ryan Pickren had discovered a vulnerability in the iPhone and Mac cameras , for which Apple paid him according to its bounty program for finding flaws in the company’s devices.
According to Pickren, this webcam vulnerability was related to a series of issues in Safari and iCloud , which Apple has already patched with a security update.
An unauthorized website could have used these vulnerabilities to perform before anyone was aware of it.
a major flaw
The cybersecurity student claims that a hacker could leverage the exploit to gain full access to all web-based accounts, including iCloud and PayPal credentials , as well as the ability to turn on microphone, camera, and screen sharing.
Apple has not commented on the security flaw, and it is not known whether it has been exploited by hackers. However, the tech giant has paid Pickren $100,500 as part of its bug bounty program.
Apple’s bug bounty program can easily award up to $1 million , depending on the severity of the security flaw.