Google Project Zero, a group that examines and publishes security and privacy exploits it finds in public software, said on Thursday evening there were huge security holes in iPhone software that existed for two years. The exploits gave attackers access to photos, location information, private messages and more.
Apple has put a big marketing campaign around iPhone privacy recently. At CES 2019, just across from the main conference center that was plastered with Google Assistant logos, Apple posted an ad that read: “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” The company has also run commercials touting the privacy features of the iPhone.
The flaws were fixed in February when Apple released iOS 12.1.4 after Google notified the company, which is why Google is now talking about the flaws publicly. But Google said the attack could be used against iPhone owners who visited a “small collection of hacked websites” and could have affected “thousands of visitors per week.”
