If you own an iPhone, Mac, or iPad you need to update it now to fix Spectre bug.





Apple has released three urgent updates to fix a bug called Spectre which could allow hackers to steal information from people’s computers and devices. Last week, security researchers disclosed two major chip flaws affecting the chips which power almost all modern devices.


Meltdown affects only Intel chips and lets hackers bypass the hardware barrier between applications run by users and the computer’s memory, potentially letting hackers read sensitive information or steal passwords. The second, called Spectre, affects chips from Intel, AMD and ARM and lets hackers potentially trick otherwise error-free applications into giving up secret information.


Anyone using an iPhone or iPad should install iOS 11.2.2, whilst there are two new software releases for Mac computers: macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update and Safari 11.0.2. Macs and iOS devices are vulnerable to Spectre attacks through code that can run in web browsers including Apple’s own Safari. It’s not thought that hackers have built viruses or malware which exploit the vulnerabilities. Apple gave users this advice in a blog post: ‘These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems.


‘All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time. ‘Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on your Mac or iOS device, we recommend downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store.’




Metro.co.uk