Every iPhone user warned to update these settings NOW after worrying alert

IPHONE owners are being urged to change their settings in order to protect their texts from snoopers.

Cyber security champion Zak Doffman last week showed that a little-known loophole makes it possible for hackers to spy on chats held over iMessage.

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That’s despite Apple’s promise that the service is end-to-end encrypted, which should mean that no one – not even Apple – can read your messages.

Writing in Forbes on December 4, Doffman, CEO of Brit surveillance tech firm Digital Barriers, described the workaround as a “serious problem”.

“It turns out that what happens on your iPhone, doesn’t always stay on your iPhone after all,” he said.

The iMessage loophole involves Apple’s cloud storage service, iCloud. The tool regularly makes a copy of the information on your iPhone called a backup.

While texts sent to iPhones using iMessage are encrypted, the key required to decrypt them is stored on your iCloud backups, Doffman said.

The idea of end-to-end encryption is that this key should only be shared between you and those you message to stop anyone intercepting them.

Storing it on iCloud, however, means Apple can access the key – meaning the firm can read your messages, according to Doffman.

“Apple stores a copy of those encryption keys in that iCloud backup, which it can access,” Doffman said.

“That means the end-to-end encryption is actually fairly pointless.”

There’s no evidence that Apple uses the loophole to snoop on texts, but the risk is enough to warrant changing your settings, he added.

That’s because government agencies such as the FBI can use the loophole to gain access to your texts and other sensitive information.

Leaked FBI documents last week revealed that the security organisation can get “limited” access to iMessage using this method.

With a search warrant, agents can “render backups of a target device” and, “if the target uses iCloud backup … can also acquire iMessages from iCloud” if the user has enabled it.

It also allows law enforcement officials to access some WhatsApp messages.

Apple has declined to comment on the record about the leaked document, instead referring to its legal process guidelines.

How to secure your iPhone messages

To secure your chats from prying eyes, you need to disable iCloud backups.

Be warned that this will mean you cannot restore your apps and settings if you lose or break your device.

Your photos, videos and messages would also be lost if you were to have a mishap.

1. Open your iPhone Settings app
2. Head to Apple ID
3. Tap iCloud Backup and switch it off

WhatsApp recommends that you disable the feature and enable the app’s encrypted backups option. To do this, open WhatsApp, then:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Chats > Chat Backup
3. Tap End-to-end Encrypted Backup and turn it on

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In other news, Apple has announced that it will let customers fix their own iPhones for the first time starting next year.

The UK is fighting an epidemic of hack attacks targeting consumers and businesses, according to officials.

NASA has slammed Russia after a missile it fired into one of its own satellites forced the space station to perform an emergency swerve.

And, a 75-year-old Brit has told of his anger after scammers on WhatsApp fooled him into sending them hundreds of pounds.

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