A word of warning to all iPhone, iPad & Mac users (and Apple itself) has recently been posted on social media in the form of a “text bomb” bug that causes the recipient’s device to instantly crash, re-spring and/or have its battery rapidly drained without warning.
Designed and released by regular Twitter user and renegade technical boffin, Abraham Masri, the bug comes in the form of a link that people can copy and paste into their SMS or Instant Messenger app window and send to someone they (presumably) dislike.
Though many people have voiced their anger over social media towards Masri for having not only created the malicious content, but openly shared it on one of the world’s biggest social media platforms, he claims that his actions were carried out in order to help the world rather than trouble it.
By exposing Apple’s weaknesses and shining a light (or Bat-Signal) onto the chink in their armour that could quite easily have been exploited by those real villains who just want to sit back and watch the world burn, Masri hoped that his heroic actions would cause the tech giants to stand up and take notice of the threat.
Suffice to say, according to his latest tweet, those heroic actions resulted in (much to his confusion) the banning of his account and an assurance on his part that the link had been taken down and that he was only ever acting in good faith, adding that he always “reports bugs before releasing them” – though we suspect the threat of Apple’s legal team had more than a small part to play in this sudden retraction.
Considering this, though there is a tiny voice in my head warning me not to poke the bear, I think it’s safe to assume that Masri’s face has never appeared on a YouTube video hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask, and our somewhat critical report on his actions isn’t likely to bring on the wrath of Anonymous anytime soon.
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