Not all apps that are popular are already safer to use than other apps. A new security threat was discovered by an expert developer on Apple iPhones after its newest release of iOS 14. The latest update comes with a high-security system that was said to detect whenever a third-party app snoops an iPhone's clipboard. And that's how he discovered that Reddit, LinkedIn, and TikTok were not that safe, as they presumed to be.
The apps have been snooping devices!
Can you believe that already popular and widely-used websites like Reddit, LinkedIn, and TikTok could snoop your iPhone via your saved clipboards? It is true, and here's how.
Don Morton, an expert developer that uses iPhone's iOS 14, had recently discovered interesting but scary findings with the worldwide-known apps. Special thanks to iOS 14 that boasted of having a system that reveals which third-party apps save your data, Morton found that Reddit, LinkedIn, and TikTok have their access to anyone's personal data through the iPhone clipboards.
LinkedIn was the first website to get accused of the clipboard snooping. Morton found that LinkedIn has been saving personal data that were originally saved from an iPhone user's clipboard.
"LinkedIn is copying the contents of my clipboard every keystroke. IOS 14 allows users to see each paste notification. I'm on an IPad Pro, and it's copying from the clipboard of my MacBook Pro," said Morton in a tweet. "Tik Tok just got called out for this exact reason."
ZDNet already reported LinkedIn's side, wherein they explained that Morton's findings were only a bug that was already fixed by LinkedIn.
"We've traced this to a code path that only does an equality check between the clipboard contents and the currently typed content in a text box. We don't store or transmit the clipboard contents," said Erran Berger, LinkedIn engineering VP.
What's up, Reddit?
The same accusation applies to another popular app, Reddit. Interestingly, they also said the same thing about the 'bug' incident.
"We tracked this down to a code path in the post composer that checks for URLs in the pasteboard and then suggests a post title based on the text contents of the URL," a Reddit spokesperson wrote in an email to The Verge. "We do not store or send the pasteboard contents. We removed this code and are releasing the fix on July 14th."
"Your parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. are the real targets here"
Though Reddit and LinkedIn already answered the claims by saying they're only a 'bug,' Morton said that what's frightening about his discovery is on how apps could easily access anyone's clipboards-- without the user's knowledge.
"I could easily see "phishing apps" starting to pop up (if they are not already) with the sole intention to scrape as much clipboard data as possible. To me, this is just as bad or even more worrying than the companies that have already been called out for it," said him. "Think of all the apps your parents or your siblings use; if you're reading this, you are probably informed enough and have already installed the new IOS or deleted questionable apps off your phone. Your parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. are the real targets here."
