The dead Colombian cocaine warlord’s older brother Roberto Escobar is suing Apple for a whopping $2.6bn security vulnerability that allegedly allowed assassins to access his location via his iPhone X handset.
The bizarre lawsuit filed this week at the San Mateo Superior Court in Silicon Valley claims that the home address and whereabouts of Roberto Escobar were exposed by a known bug, which allowed attackers to spy on another person’s microphone using FaceTime.
He has reportedly been bombarded with random FaceTime calls after he purchased an iPhone X through a reseller in Colombia in April 2018. Escobar did not think too much about it until, in January 2019, he allegedly received a death threat months later. The letter, written by someone called Diego, claimed that by exploiting the aforementioned vulnerability in FaceTime, he had discovered Escobar’s home address.
Although it is known that the bug only affects the microphone of a user, Escobar claimed it also leaks location data. “[Escobar] has hired a technical specialist who has made that determination, and if necessary he will present the evidence to the court,” a spokesman told The Register. “He ‘s 100 percent certain it’s because of FaceTime.”
“Apple breached the agreement,” according to the filing. “Apple failed to provide a phone free of exploits, and as a result, criminals were able to use FaceTime to determine the Plaintiff’s secure residential address and other personal information.” And for that Apple supposedly deserves to pay a total of $2.6bn in damages.
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Here’s how Escobar did the maths: The breach of contract itself has cost Escobar $100m to devote extra time and money to protect himself and his family after his location was accessed by the assassins. Apple’s negligent and misrepresentation of its product drove him to relocate, so that’s another $500m in damages. Finally, the emotional and physical toll exerted on the former Medelin’s Cartel CFO also has a price of $2bn.
Apple was not available for any statement.
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