COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho – The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), among hundreds of other law enforcement agencies, have issued a privacy warning for the new iPhone software update.
“PARENTS: Don’t forget to change these settings on your child’s phone to help keep them safe as well,” KCSO said in a Facebook post.
The new update includes a NameDrop feature, similar to the AirDrop feature. You hold two iPhone’s, both updated to iOS 17.1.1, together and within a second, a screen pops up and prompts you to share your contact info with the other user.
Your iPhone must be unlocked to do this, and everything from your name to your birthday to your home address will be shared.
“Is that a feature that is going to be useful and actually use on a day-to-day basis? If not, then maybe it is better to turn it off for now,” Logan Hickle, the Better Business Bureau communications manager, said.
Other first responders are not as worried about the new update, though.
“I didn’t feel like it had the security risk that a lot of people were saying it did,” Jenna Kochenauer, the PIO for Benton County Fire District #1, said after researching the new technology.
This new feature is less invasive than the AirDrop feature, according to Kochenauer.
“This new update allows people to send you information but your phones actually have to be touching. Whereas without that touching feature, anybody from 30 feet away from you can be sending stuff and you don’t necessarily know who it is,” Kochenauer said.
Although cyber security experts claim the NameDrop feature can make it easier for kids and the elderly to share personal information with bad actors.
If you’d like to turn off this new feature, find the settings app on your Apple iPhone, scroll down until you see the general button, click it, then click AirDrop, and where it says Start Sharing By, turn that off.
“You need to be taking a look at what’s included in that update. There are plenty of tech blogs out there that go over each individual update and dive into depth what’s included in that update,” Hickle said.
