FaceTime Mac security flaw could give away your personal data

Update: Apple has fixed the problem via a software update on their servers. Even if you have the old version of the client, the problem has been fixed, and no other action is required on your end.

During Apple’s “Back to the Mac” press event, a number of announcements were made, including the availability of video conferencing between Mac computers and iOS mobile devices like the iPhone 4 through FaceTime.

On the same day as the announcement, Apple released a beta version of FaceTime for Mac, which technically works fine with the iPhone 4, but presents security loopholes that could give unauthorized persons access to sensitive account iTunes information.

While using FaceTime on your Mac, by simply navigating through the settings options, you are able to view and change account information, even the answer to your secret security question appears in normal plain text.

The ability to view the security question could allow a user to change the account password by simply entering the answer to the security question after clicking on the Forgot Password link.

 The security flaw only appears to display the information visually on-screen, and does not include any other flaw that could give remote machine access to hackers. Due to this, although important, the security vulnerability presents very marginal risk to users that use desktop iMac computers at home.

Users who use portable OS X computers, like the MacBook, should refrain from using FaceTime for Mac until the company releases an updated client build that patches the vulnerability.

It could be argued that the security flaw is very marginal, since a person would need to have direct physical access to your machine to view the confidential information, as opposed to a security hole that could give hackers silent remote access to the data.

As an alternative to FaceTime for Mac, users can opt to use Yahoo Messenger, which now includes cross-platform video conferencing capabilities between the iPhone 4 and any other platform that supports the Yahoo Messenger video protocol, including Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, among other popular operating platforms, however, some would argue FaceTime is superior as it is simpler and offers superior video quality.

People who continue to use the unfixed version of FaceTime for Mac should exercise added caution to ensure the integrity of their accounts, including their ITunes account, since the user would be liable for any expenses incurred, even as a result of improper unauthorized use.