Apple device users beware! Disable the AirDrop feature now
AirDrop is an essential feature for Apple device users. This makes it possible to exchange data between two Apple devices completely freely. Please be informed that AirDrop is a wireless service. So there is a lot of demand for it among Apple users. However, this is a widely used service that has recently been attacked by hackers, which is due to an internal weakness of the feature. AirDrop users are being hacked because of special bugs. In this case, hackers are easily stealing personal information including their mobile numbers and email addresses.
Researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt have identified bugs in the AirDrop. Their claim is that hackers are able to infiltrate Apple’s devices with the help of this bug vulnerability and thus steal the personal information of a completely unknown attacker user which is a matter of great concern. Basically, hackers need a device with Wi-Fi to do this, which allows them to use location proximity to steal AirDrop user data.
If you want to understand the matter better, you need to know how the AirDrop system works. In fact, AirDrop uses Mutual Authentication Mechanism to share data. In this case, they collect the user’s phone number and email ID and match it with the list in the address book. This is where hackers take advantage of technological vulnerabilities to capture important information from data exchange devices. As a result, iOS and MacOS users are in danger if they open AirDrop’s sharing panel.
To find out why this weakness is happening, the research team blamed the hash functions of Apple devices. The hashing technology of Apple devices is failing to protect the personal information of data exchangers. According to the researchers, by decoding the encoded data using the obtained hash value, hackers can easily capture the necessary information of the user.
The research team also said that they informed Apple about the above vulnerabilities long ago (May, 2019). But at that time no action was taken by Apple. As a result, the personal information of more than 1.5 billion people is currently at risk. According to the researchers, users can protect their own data for the time being by disabling AirDrop technology in System Settings.
