At the heart of Apple91裸聊视频檚 shocking FaceTime bug, which allowed just about anyone to turn an iPhone into a live microphone, stands a 14-year-old boy who stumbled upon the eavesdropping flaw more than a week before Apple took action.

91裸聊视频淭he thing that surprised me the most was that this glitch happened in the first place,91裸聊视频� said Grant Thompson, a high school freshman in Tucson, Arizona. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 only 14 and I found it by accident, instead of the people at Apple that get paid to find glitches.91裸聊视频�

Not only that, but Grant and his mom said they spent a week unsuccessfully trying to get Apple to do something about the bug in its FaceTime group-chatting feature.

91裸聊视频淚t took nine days for us to get a response,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淢y mom contacted them almost every single day through email, calling, faxing.91裸聊视频� Of the fax, he jokes, 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not even sure what that is. It91裸聊视频檚 probably older than I am.91裸聊视频�

This eavesdropping scare is over now that Apple has disabled group chats, but the problem could dog the company for much longer. New York state officials have opened a consumer rights investigation. Others are raising questions about how long it took Apple to address the bug.

In a statement Friday, Apple thanked the Thompsons as it announced that it has identified a fix and will release it next week. FaceTime group chatting will resume then.

Grant, a straight-A student who plays basketball, does community volunteering and enjoys the video game 91裸聊视频淔ortnite,91裸聊视频� was calling friends to play the game on a Saturday night, Jan. 19, when he discovered the flaw.

91裸聊视频淚f a 14-year-old kid discovered it, I wonder how many other people discovered it,91裸聊视频� said Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer with the security firm Veracode.

Apple hasn91裸聊视频檛 said whether it has records that could answer that question.

Friday91裸聊视频檚 statement said Apple91裸聊视频檚 engineers worked quickly once it got the details needed to reproduce the bug. Although Apple didn91裸聊视频檛 acknowledge a delay, the company said it was 91裸聊视频渃ommitted to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible.91裸聊视频�

The company 91裸聊视频� at first widely praised for its swift response 91裸聊视频� could come under increased scrutiny as regulators seek to learn more about the vulnerability.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that they91裸聊视频檙e investigating 91裸聊视频淎pple91裸聊视频檚 failure to warn consumers about the FaceTime bug and slow response to addressing the issue.91裸聊视频�

They said the bug jeopardized the privacy of New York consumers by allowing callers to activate another person91裸聊视频檚 microphone remotely even before the person has accepted or rejected the call. James said her office91裸聊视频檚 review will include a 91裸聊视频渢horough investigation into Apple91裸聊视频檚 response.91裸聊视频�

Last October, Apple introduced the 32-person video conferencing feature for iPhones, iPads and Macs. With the bug, a FaceTime group-chat user calling another Apple device could hear audio 91裸聊视频� even if the receiver didn91裸聊视频檛 accept the call. The bug was triggered when callers turn a regular FaceTime call into a group chat, making FaceTime think the receiver had accepted the chat.

In Grant91裸聊视频檚 case, he had just gotten his Xbox ready and called to invite a friend, Nathan, to play 91裸聊视频淔ortnite91裸聊视频� with him online.

91裸聊视频淵ou can swipe up and add another person, so I added another friend of mine, Diego, to see if he also wanted to play,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淏ut as soon as I added Diego, it forced Nathan to respond.91裸聊视频�

They were shocked at first, then tried to repeat the bug and it happened every time, he said. His mother, Michele Thompson, said she started trying to reach Apple the next day.

91裸聊视频淭hey could have tested it within two minutes, realized it was true and brought it up the chain at Apple,91裸聊视频� said Thompson, who works as an attorney. 91裸聊视频淭here needs to be a better process for the average citizen to report things like this. And a timelier response.91裸聊视频�

She eventually reached someone who advised that she could register as a software developer to submit the bug. Such reports can sometimes lead to 91裸聊视频渂ug bounties91裸聊视频� so that those who discover a flaw can get a financial reward. The family hoped Grant could receive such an award, or at least some credit, for his discovery.

91裸聊视频淓very day he would ask me, 91裸聊视频楧id we hear from Apple yet?91裸聊视频� she said.

The family tried reaching Apple through multiple channels. They left comments on Twitter, one of them directed to CEO Tim Cook, and uploaded a video to walk Apple engineers through the problem. But it wasn91裸聊视频檛 until a tech blog reported the flaw earlier this week 91裸聊视频� leading many people to experiment with the spying bug themselves 91裸聊视频� that Apple took the unusual measure of temporarily shutting down the group-chat feature.

Apple has declined to say when it learned about the problem. The company also wouldn91裸聊视频檛 say if it has logs that could show if anyone took advantage of the bug before it became publicly known this week. The company reached out to the Thompson family on Tuesday offering to give some public credit for their efforts, according to an email Michele Thompson shared with The Associated Press.

91裸聊视频淚t would be cool to just have Apple say thanks to me,91裸聊视频� Grant Thompson said before Friday91裸聊视频檚 announcement from Apple. 91裸聊视频淎nd of course, the bug bounty, that would be pretty awesome to get, but as long as we got rid of this pretty groundbreaking bug, and Apple said thank you, that would be pretty cool.91裸聊视频�

Matt O91裸聊视频橞rien, The Associated Press

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