At the heart of Applesa国际传媒檚 shocking FaceTime bug, which allowed just about anyone to turn an iPhone into a live microphone, stands a 14-year-old boy who stumbled upon the eavesdropping flaw more than a week before Apple took action.

sa国际传媒淭he thing that surprised me the most was that this glitch happened in the first place,sa国际传媒� said Grant Thompson, a high school freshman in Tucson, Arizona. sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 only 14 and I found it by accident, instead of the people at Apple that get paid to find glitches.sa国际传媒�

Not only that, but Grant and his mom said they spent a week unsuccessfully trying to get Apple to do something about the bug in its FaceTime group-chatting feature.

sa国际传媒淚t took nine days for us to get a response,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淢y mom contacted them almost every single day through email, calling, faxing.sa国际传媒� Of the fax, he jokes, sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 not even sure what that is. Itsa国际传媒檚 probably older than I am.sa国际传媒�

This eavesdropping scare is over now that Apple has disabled group chats, but the problem could dog the company for much longer. New York state officials have opened a consumer rights investigation. Others are raising questions about how long it took Apple to address the bug.

In a statement Friday, Apple thanked the Thompsons as it announced that it has identified a fix and will release it next week. FaceTime group chatting will resume then.

Grant, a straight-A student who plays basketball, does community volunteering and enjoys the video game sa国际传媒淔ortnite,sa国际传媒� was calling friends to play the game on a Saturday night, Jan. 19, when he discovered the flaw.

sa国际传媒淚f a 14-year-old kid discovered it, I wonder how many other people discovered it,sa国际传媒� said Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer with the security firm Veracode.

Apple hasnsa国际传媒檛 said whether it has records that could answer that question.

Fridaysa国际传媒檚 statement said Applesa国际传媒檚 engineers worked quickly once it got the details needed to reproduce the bug. Although Apple didnsa国际传媒檛 acknowledge a delay, the company said it was sa国际传媒渃ommitted to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible.sa国际传媒�

The company sa国际传媒� at first widely praised for its swift response sa国际传媒� could come under increased scrutiny as regulators seek to learn more about the vulnerability.

VIDEO:

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that theysa国际传媒檙e investigating sa国际传媒淎pplesa国际传媒檚 failure to warn consumers about the FaceTime bug and slow response to addressing the issue.sa国际传媒�

They said the bug jeopardized the privacy of New York consumers by allowing callers to activate another personsa国际传媒檚 microphone remotely even before the person has accepted or rejected the call. James said her officesa国际传媒檚 review will include a sa国际传媒渢horough investigation into Applesa国际传媒檚 response.sa国际传媒�

Last October, Apple introduced the 32-person video conferencing feature for iPhones, iPads and Macs. With the bug, a FaceTime group-chat user calling another Apple device could hear audio sa国际传媒� even if the receiver didnsa国际传媒檛 accept the call. The bug was triggered when callers turn a regular FaceTime call into a group chat, making FaceTime think the receiver had accepted the chat.

In Grantsa国际传媒檚 case, he had just gotten his Xbox ready and called to invite a friend, Nathan, to play sa国际传媒淔ortnitesa国际传媒� with him online.

sa国际传媒淵ou can swipe up and add another person, so I added another friend of mine, Diego, to see if he also wanted to play,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淏ut as soon as I added Diego, it forced Nathan to respond.sa国际传媒�

They were shocked at first, then tried to repeat the bug and it happened every time, he said. His mother, Michele Thompson, said she started trying to reach Apple the next day.

sa国际传媒淭hey could have tested it within two minutes, realized it was true and brought it up the chain at Apple,sa国际传媒� said Thompson, who works as an attorney. sa国际传媒淭here needs to be a better process for the average citizen to report things like this. And a timelier response.sa国际传媒�

She eventually reached someone who advised that she could register as a software developer to submit the bug. Such reports can sometimes lead to sa国际传媒渂ug bountiessa国际传媒� so that those who discover a flaw can get a financial reward. The family hoped Grant could receive such an award, or at least some credit, for his discovery.

sa国际传媒淓very day he would ask me, sa国际传媒楧id we hear from Apple yet?sa国际传媒� she said.

The family tried reaching Apple through multiple channels. They left comments on Twitter, one of them directed to CEO Tim Cook, and uploaded a video to walk Apple engineers through the problem. But it wasnsa国际传媒檛 until a tech blog reported the flaw earlier this week sa国际传媒� leading many people to experiment with the spying bug themselves sa国际传媒� that Apple took the unusual measure of temporarily shutting down the group-chat feature.

Apple has declined to say when it learned about the problem. The company also wouldnsa国际传媒檛 say if it has logs that could show if anyone took advantage of the bug before it became publicly known this week. The company reached out to the Thompson family on Tuesday offering to give some public credit for their efforts, according to an email Michele Thompson shared with The Associated Press.

sa国际传媒淚t would be cool to just have Apple say thanks to me,sa国际传媒� Grant Thompson said before Fridaysa国际传媒檚 announcement from Apple. sa国际传媒淎nd of course, the bug bounty, that would be pretty awesome to get, but as long as we got rid of this pretty groundbreaking bug, and Apple said thank you, that would be pretty cool.sa国际传媒�

Matt Osa国际传媒橞rien, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .