A warning has been issued to iPhone users after cybersecurity experts discovered a bug in Apple’s Mirroring feature that leaves their data exposed.
Security software company Sevco discovered that the flaw, when used on a work Mac, shared smartphone data with a company’s IT systems.
They confirmed that employee applications were stored on corporate networks accessed by employers.
The security team has urged iPhone users to stop using the feature on work and business computers to identify any enterprise IT systems that collect Mac software inventory until Apple releases a patch.
Security researchers have discovered a bug in Apple’s iOS 18 that shares personal information from an iPhone to a Mac, which may be stored on external systems.
“This mistake by Apple is a major privacy risk because it can expose aspects of their personal lives that they don’t want to share or that could put them at risk,” Sevco shared. in a statement.
‘This could include exposing a VPN app in a country that restricts Internet access, a dating app that reveals your sexual orientation in a jurisdiction with limited legal protections or consequences, or an app related to a health condition that an employee simply doesn’t know I want to share.
“The consequences of such data exposure can be serious.”
However, companies could find themselves in legal trouble if the problem is not addressed.
“It can lead to violations of important privacy laws, such as the CCPA, potential litigation, and enforcement by federal agencies,” Sevco explained.
The security team also noted that it contacted Apple after several companies confirmed the issue and expects a patch to be released soon.
“We expect Apple to patch macOS shortly based on our conversations with them,” Sevco said.
“When a patch is available, companies will need to apply it to stop collecting private employee data.
“Once the patch is available, Sevco recommends that companies delete any employee data collected in error to eliminate liability risk.”
The team discovered the bug on September 27 and confirmed that the source was iPhone Mirroring.
On September 30, Apple reported that it had reproduced the issue and told Sevco it would address it in an update soon, but that was on October 3.
DailyMail.com has contacted Apple for comment.
Sevco’s discovery announcement comes just a week after Apple released an urgent security update to fix bugs.
The tech giant rolled out iOS 18.0.1 on October 3 to fix issues that caused the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro to crash.
In the patch notes for the update, Apple said it has fixed an issue where “the touchscreen may be temporarily unresponsive under certain circumstances on iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models.”
This will be good news for iPhone 16 users who have reported that their new phones’ screens are often unresponsive since the iOS 18 update.
On X, formerly Twitter, one commenter wrote: ‘iPhone 16 Pro Max is buggy AF! from the touchscreen becoming unresponsive to the phone switching to a lower refresh rate.”
Another commenter wrote: “I spent $1600 on an iPhone 16 Pro Max, only to see it freeze and crash at least twice a day.”
‘My iPhone 16 pro has been pretty unusable since I bought it. “It freezes, it crashes, it repeats,” added another.
In addition to fixing this frustrating issue, Apple says the iOS 18.0.1 update will fix an issue that caused the camera to freeze when recording with the Ultra Wide camera.
The patch also included a fix for a bug where “messages could close unexpectedly when replying to a message with a shared Apple Watch face.”
This update comes alongside the release of iPadOS 18.0.1 for iPad Pro 13-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation and later, iPad Pro 11-inch first generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later , iPad 7th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.’