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One of the most important Yosemite features might also be putting your privacy at risk

Published Jan 9th, 2015 4:45PM EST
Yosemite Spotlight Search Privacy Issue
Image: Apple Inc.

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One of the most important features in Apple’s Yosemite desktop operating system is the new Spotlight search, which offers users quick access to apps and files on a Mac and also a fast way of accessing certain online resources. But Spotlight apparently has a flaw that can expose certain personal details to spammers and thus disregard the privacy settings chosen by the user.

FROM EARLIER: Your private browsing habits are far from being as private as you might think

Detailed initially by German security publication Heise, the Spotlight flaw is actually rather simple. Spotlight shows previews of searched items to the user, including images in emails on the Mac. When that happens, spammers and online marketers who send images in emails with the purpose of tracking users can get information such as IP addresses and the number of times an image is seen by the user.

Even if users disable image previews in mail apps, thus preventing such third-parties for collecting personal data, Spotlight disregards those settings, choosing to still load preview images from those emails, including the actual images in emails. Even if an email lands in the junk email folder, a preview of it is still shown when it matches certain searches performed by the user.

As Ars Technica points out, it’s not clear if Spotlight’s preview features also overrides any similar image blocking in other apps.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.