back to article US government tells Apple it has security problems that Apple fixed last year

Two years after the White House decided disclosure was better than bug-hoarding, the FBI has handed over its first notification to Apple. News of the bug report was given to Reuters, which says notifications describing the iPhone and Mac problems landed in Cupertino on April 14. The White House policy was articulated at the …

  1. Ole Juul

    Old trick

    Reminds me of the old trick of showing up with a "can I help" just as someone else is about finished washing the dishes. No, FBI, it's not the "thought that counts", it's the intent.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Old trick

      You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours.

  2. Sgt_Oddball

    doesn't intend to patch

    Not patching older operating systems? That sounds like an android move (and at least they've got a half reasonable excuse of being to manufacturers not Google themselves to update).

    That seems very poor. Service for Apple customers (unless every ithing can run iOS 9 and it's users not updating in which case carry on. It's their choice to not update).

    1. Richard Jones 1
      Joke

      Re: doesn't intend to patch

      Perhaps apple just want to compete more widely with Andriod?

    2. LesB

      Re: doesn't intend to patch

      Fair point about older devices - iOS9 is supported on the iPhone 4S and later. The 4S was launched in 2011, making it moderately old as these things go. The oldest unsupported iPhone is the iPhone 4, launched in 2010, which is even older as these things go.

      Not sure how far any company should be required to go in supporting older kit, but I think Apple goes quite a long way.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: doesn't intend to patch

      The patch for iOS 8 is to upgrade to iOS 9. There are no devices that support iOS 8 that don't also support iOS 9. As already pointed out, you have to go back to the iPhone 4 - 5 1/2 years old - to find a device that can't run iOS 9.

      Comparing it to Android is the height of ridiculousness. Android users can only dream about having a 4 1/2 year old phone still able to update to the latest OS the day of its release. Or for 98% of them, only dream about having a day old phone able to update to the latest OS within 4 1/2 months of its release!

    4. redpawn

      Re: doesn't intend to patch

      The nasty thing about it is that with older devices or for users just sticking with an old version of OS X the software update utility tells you kindly "Your Software is up to Date" rather than letting you know that it is no longer being patched and is quite insecure.

  3. The_Idiot

    Basic maths...

    "The unnamed Apple executive said 80 per cent of iPhones are already on iOS 9, so it doesn't intend patching the flaws in older versions of its operating system."

    Hmmm. How about:

    "The unnamed Apple executive said 20 per cent of iPhones still have problems, but that's not _our_ problem."

    Of course, simple arithmetic is rarely listed as a required skill for 'executives' I guess.

    1. ratfox

      Re: Basic maths...

      20% is a rather high percentage to decide not to support. I think Microsoft people would love to be able to give that kind of answer.

      1. BurnT'offering

        Re: Basic maths...

        It rather depends on how many of that 20% are unattached due to incompatibility or owner apathy. The latter is harder to fix

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Microsoft DID give that answer

        When they dropped support for Windows XP, NetMarketShare said it was used on 27% of PCs. Assuming they don't extend the 2020 date for Windows 7 (and I doubt they will, given how hard they are trying to push Windows 10 upgrades) there will probably be an even higher percentage than that running 7 when it is out of support.

        And PC lifetimes are far longer than phone lifetimes. I'm typing this on a PC I built in early 2009 using a Q9400, and it still works fine. I wouldn't dream of still using an iPhone 3gs, released later that year.

  4. Aodhhan

    I love how Apple users defend any decision coming out of Silicon Valley, no matter how ridiculous it is.

    Any Apple OS is just as vulnerable as any Android or Windows system out there, so quit thinking it matters whose more secure than the other, when they all suck. Be honest with yourself.

    One of the authors above is correct... there is no way Redmond could get away with not supporting an OS which is less than 10 years old, especially with 20% numbers. Yelling out, the patch is to upgrade to the next full OS version is just ignorant. Something I shouldn't have to explain.

    There is one thing Android users have above all others... they pay a lot less for the same number of vulnerabilities and same (maybe better) service. They also have more applications available and for less cost.

    If you ask me, it's the Apple users who are the fools in this game.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Even if that's true, Apple provides fixes that most iPhone users can take advantage of. Android users are screwed and doomed to use phones with more and more serious vulnerabilities that are widely known but never fixed.

      It is only a matter of time before there's a massive compromise of Android phones, and when it happens it will keep happening because there won't be any way for them to get a fixed OS. If something like that happened with iPhones Apple would have a fix out in a few days and 48 hours later over half of iPhone users would already be protected against it.

      Apple would also provide updates to older version of iOS for something major - proof is that they did such an update on iOS 6.x for 3gs users a couple years ago though it isn't clear why (maybe the issue was severe enough they feared a mass compromise if they didn't act?)

    2. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

      "Any Apple OS is just as vulnerable as any Android or Windows system out there..."

      Yuhuh, you keep telling yourself that. Even if it were true (which it isn't), as soon as Apple release a patch any iPhone back to the 5 1/2 year old iPhone 4S can be protected on the day of release (depending on user apathy); for free. Android has nothing like this. OSX El Capitan runs on Macbooks from 2008 onward; my kids have two of these. Fully patched and supported.

  5. Mike 16
    Pint

    Just take this pill

    with a pint of urine. There are many iPhone users who resisted the move to iOS 9 because they did not want to brick their phones. Similarly many OS X users would really love to "upgrade" to a more secure version that is not also unstable. I realize that Apple's main goal is to collect a fee whenever anybody, anywhere views anything on an Apple device, so locking down all devices is Job One, but I really wish the could spare a few of their competent people to work on fixing bugs in basic functionality, instead of delegating that work to the phone sanitizers.

    Not that MSFT or Google are _much_ better, and Canonical, well, time to calm down.

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