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| © Jack Taylor/Getty Images The iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XS on display at the Apple Regent Street store during their launch on September 21, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images) |
By Taylor Nicole Rogers, CNN
At the same time Apple was promoting its new streaming TV offerings Monday, it pushed a massive amount of security fixes along with its newest operating system -- 51 to be exact.
Perhaps the most notable fix: Apple patched a flaw that could allow
malicious applications to access the microphone on your iPhone and
record you and those around you.
But that's just one of the vulnerabilities Apple addressed in iOS 12.2.
The company also fixed a problem with the FaceTime app that prevented video chats from pausing when you left the app.
Another
fix closed a loophole that allowed users to access sensitive
information in the Messages app and websites visited through Safari to
see information from their phone's light and motion sensors.
Those
are just a few of the most shocking security flaws. Others dealt with
phone memory and SMS hacking. Some of the patches impact devices other
than iPhones, such as laptops and iPads.
It's not unusual for Apple to fix security issues in software updates, cybersecurity consultant Nick Merrill told CNN.
The iPhone's previous operating system, iOS 12.1.4, was released in February
after the discovery of a bug in FaceTime that allowed the camera and
microphones of iPhones to be accessed without the user's permission.
The
fixes come ahead of Apple's big push into content and entertainment.
During its press event Monday, privacy was a buzzword for several of its
new services.
The company said it would "maintain user privacy"
when suggesting content for users of its News+ magazine subscription
service and announced on stage that it will not collect data from its
streaming game service Apple Arcade. The company also pledged that
Goldman Sachs, which partnered with Apple on a credit card, wouldn't share Apple cardholder's data for marketing.
Apple's
stock closed down 1% after the announcement. Vague details about the
credit card's interest rate and the price of TV+ left investors
unconvinced that they could make up for slowing iPhone sales.
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