Photo by Laurenz Heymann on Unsplash
No, we aren't talking about iOS 15 or any other next-generation operating system upgrade from Apple. But you will need to update your devices to the latest updates to patch up a security flaw in your Apple gadgets. The company has released an emergency update to patch the security flaw that allowed Israel's NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to infect a target's Apple device, including all the devices we've mentioned in the title.
Security researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab discovered and released a report detailing the exploit. Apple was notified about the exploit on September 7 and worked out that fix until today's release. While you might not be a target of these malicious entities, it's best to update, so you don't leave your gadgets vulnerable.
These are the updates you need to install:
- iOS 14.8
- iPadOS 14.8
- watchOS 7.6.2
- macOS Big Sur 11.6
- Security update 2021-005 for macOS Catalina
The compatible iOS and iPad devices include the iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation).
Citizen Lab researchers discovered the flaw while examining a Pegasus-infected phone that belonged to a Saudi activist. The NSO Group likely exploited a "zero-click" vulnerability in iMessage to get Pegasus into the smartphone. These kinds of vulnerabilities don't need any input from the user. All NSO needed to do was send over an invisible, malware-laden iMessage without the user's knowledge.
According to Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton, whoever was behind the exploit can do "everything an iPhone user can do on their device and more" once it's become infected. These include tracking texts and emails even on encrypted apps, calls made, and even switching on a device's camera without the user's knowledge.
Source: Gizmodo