From the world of unintended consequences, iPhone users have become the victims of a new phenomenon known as cyber-flashing. Reports out of London state that Apple iPhone users are being sent pervy pics. The pervy pics are unsolicited and indecent photographs. The pics are being sent over a new Apple feature in iOS called AirDrop.
AirDrop is a feature on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers. AirDrop allows users to send files, such as images, to each other at a close range. The pics can be sent up to 33 feet (10 m) via a Bluetooth connection. Apparently, even if the receiver rejects the photo, they are still shown an uncensored preview of the image.
AirDrop initially establishes a connection over Bluetooth. It then uses a direct Wi-Fi connection between the two iPhones to send files. This makes the transfer much quicker. It’s supported by devices from the iPhone 5 onwards with iOS 7 released back in 2013.
How to prevent the pervy pics
To prevent the pervy pics from appearing on your iDevice, you need to take action. Mark James, a security specialist at ESET UK, explains. You have to set your AirDrop settings to “Contacts Only” which will only permit AirDrop file transfers from people in your address book or disable AirDrop entirely. He explains that AirDrop is not turned on by default, but it’s easy to set AirDrop to receive from Everyone, and then forget all about it.
ESET explains how to prevent cyber flashing:
- On the home screen of your iPhone, swipe up to open the Control Center.
- Tap on AirDrop, below the media playback and volume controls.
- Tap ‘Off’ or ‘Contacts Only’ to prevent files from being sent from strangers.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.