Update Your iPhone and Mac Now: Apple Confirms Vulnerabilities

Owners of iPhone and Mac are not immune to defects that affect the processors of laptops, PCs, and smartphones. Apple has confirmed tonight (4 January) that security issues such as Meltdown and Specter also affect Mac and iOS devices.

The world has noticed Meltdown and Specter earlier this week when it became clear that security holes in Intel, AMD, ARM and other processors make the machines powered by these processors susceptible to exploits. In the case of Meltdown, the exploit of a user application allows kernel memory to be read, meaning that everything protected on its machines, such as passwords, credit card information and other sensitive data, is vulnerable. The spectrum covers two different exploits and allows applications to read the memory of others. None of these vulnerabilities should be exploited in nature.

Companies rushed out yesterday (January 3) to launch fixes for both Windows and Android devices, and it was increasingly speculated that the bugs that are common to most modern processors also affect Apple devices. Apple had turned to the subject this afternoon when a support document confirmed that all Mac systems and iOS devices were vulnerable.

Apple's support document describes the steps the company has taken to address these issues. In the case of Meltdown, Apple says it has released mitigations for the exploit in the iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2 and tv OS 11.2 updates. (watchOS is unaffected by security vulnerabilities, so Apple Watch users can at least breathe easily).

Apple claims to have tested the updates and found no performance reduction with the Geekbench 4 performance test as well as web browser tests such as speedometer, JetStream, and ARES-6.

The correction comes from Apple, although these vulnerabilities are more difficult to exploit according to the researchers. Expect updates from Safari for iOS and Mac OS in the coming days to address this vulnerability, Apple said.

If you have a Mac, iPhone, or Apple TV, upgrade to the latest version of the operating system. In fact, if you are diligent enough to keep up with your software updates, you should already have downloaded the meltdown silences. Get ready to update again when Apple comes with its Specter Mitigation. The Tom Guide also recommends running antivirus software on your Mac because the Meltdown and Spectrum attacks only work locally and the attack comes from the target computer.