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Apples update to make device more secure
Posted on: 30/Aug/2016 4:15:11 PM
On Aug. 25, Apple issued a patch through iOS 9.3.5 update to fix dangerous security flaw in iPhone and iPads. The flaw came into light when a prominent human right activist in the United Arab Emirates, began receiving text messages from an unknown entity. The messages claimed to contain secret information about torture happening in prisons of UAE, and invited him to click on a web link for further information. However, due to his suspicion, instead of clicking the link he passed the message to researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab for investigation. Had he opened the link, his phone would have become a spy tool without him acknowledging about it.
In an official statement, Apple said, We were made aware of this vulnerability and immediately fixed it with iOS 9.3.5. We advise all of our customers to always download the latest version of iOS to protect themselves against potential security exploits.
A report from the Citizen Lab said, Once infected, the activist’s phone would have become a digital spy in his pocket, capable of employing his iPhone’s camera and microphone to snoop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording his WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps, and tracking his movements. Our experts, with the help of Lookout, a San Francisco-based mobile security company, discovered three dangerous flaws in Apple’s previous operating system iOS 9.3.4, which could have let intruders to track owner’s calls, text messages, email, contacts, passwords, and trace whereabouts of the phone users.
Apple’s support page has said that the update mainly fixes the vulnerabilities detected by researchers from Citizen Lab and Lookout, which could be exploited by vicious intruders to spy on dissidents. The update is available for iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPod touch fifth generation and above models.
