People shop at an Apple Store in Beijing on September 28, 2021. Apple has disclosed critical security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads, and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control these devices.
Andy Wong / AP
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Andy Wong / AP
People shop at an Apple Store in Beijing on September 28, 2021. Apple has disclosed critical security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads, and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control these devices.
Andy Wong / AP
SAN FRANCISCO – Apple has disclosed critical security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads, and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices.
Apple released two Guard report about the issue on Wednesday, though they have not received widespread attention outside of tech publications.
Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means that a hacker could gain “full administrator access” to the device. That would allow intruders to impersonate the device owner and then run any software on their behalf, said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security.
Security experts have advised users to update affected devices – iPhone6S and later models; some iPad models, including 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro and iPad Air 2 models; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. This vulnerability also affects some iPod models.
Apple did not say in the reports how, where or by whom the vulnerabilities were discovered. In any case, it cites an anonymous researcher.
Commercial spyware companies like Israel’s NSO Corporation are known for identifying and exploiting such vulnerabilities, exploiting them in malware that stealthily infects target smartphones. goals, suck their content, and track goals in real time.
NSO group blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce. Its spyware is known to have been used in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America against journalists, dissidents and human rights activists.
Security researcher Will Strafach said he has not seen any technical analysis of the vulnerabilities Apple has just patched. Previously, the company had acknowledged similarly critical flaws and, by Strafach’s estimates perhaps dozens of times, noted that it was aware of reports that such security holes had been exposed. exploit.
