Apple Is Rewarding the Teen Who Discovered the Group FaceTime Bug With Money for College

Last month, Apple users learned of a security bug that allows people to eavesdrop on conversations through Group FaceTime. The Group FaceTime feature, which makes it possible to FaceTime multiple callers at once, received an update that fixes the flaw on Thursday, February 7. Now, Apple wants to reward the teenager who helped bring the problem to its attention.

As Reuters reports, the tech company is giving 14-year-old Grant Thompson money for his education and providing additional compensation to him and his family. Grant and his mother Michele discovered the bug—which made it possible for callers to listen to audio on the other end of the line even if the recipients didn't answer—during a FaceTime call. Realizing what a serious privacy breach this was, Michele reached out to Apple to get it fixed, becoming seemingly the first user to alert the company.

Unfortunately, the tech giant doesn't offer regular customers a simple way to report such problems, and it took Michele more than a week to finally contact someone who could help. Apple says it plans to improve the system that handles these reports in order to avoid similar situations in the future.

In addition to the undisclosed amount of cash that will be rewarded to the Thompsons, Apple also thanked "Grant Thompson of Catalina Foothills High School" in the release notes for the software update.