Indian govt wants you to update your iPhones, Apple Watch and other Apple devices

Apple recently released major updates to all its devices including iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Macs, and Apple Watches among others. The update brought a bunch of new features to Apple devices such as new Siri voices and the ability to unlock iPhones even while wearing face masks to iPhones and iPads among other things. It also brought a host of security updates to fix critical vulnerabilities in Apple devices. Now, the cyber-security wing of the Indian government, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT) has issued a warning asking all Apple device users to update their devices as soon as possible.

In a release, ICERT says that multiple vulnerabilities in Apple products that could ‘allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges, execute arbitrary codes, disclose sensitive information and bypass security restrictions on the targeted systems.’ Simply put, the existing vulnerabilities can allow a attacker to gain access to users’ Apple devices and access sensitive information by bypassing all the security checks in the devices.

“These vulnerabilities exists in Apple products due to memory initialisation issue, out of bounds read, out-of-bounds write, memory corruption, sensitive issue type, use after free, null pointer dereference, authentication issue, cookie management issue, validation issue in handling of symlinks, permission issue, buffer overflow, memory consumption issue, access issue and user interface issue,” ICERT wrote in its release. The organisation has also shared the list of apps that are at risk. Here’s the list:

– Apple iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 15.4

– Apple WatchOS versions prior to 8.5

– Apple TV versions prior to 15.4

– Apple iTunes for Windows versions prior to 12.12.13

– Apple macOS Monterey versions prior to 12.3

– Apple macOS Big Sur versions prior to 11.6.5

– Apple macOS Catalina

– Apple TV software versions prior to 7.9

– Apple GarageBand versions prior to 10.4.6

– Apple Logic Pro X versions prior to 10.7.3

– Apple Xcode versions prior to 13.3

How can I safeguard myself?

The easiest way to safeguard yourself from these vulnerabilities is by updating your Apple devices. Here’s an easy guide using which you can update your Apple devices:

iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch: Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update > choose software update you want to install (if you see multiple options) > tap Download and Install.

Apple Watch: On your watch, open the Settings app > the tap General option > go to Software Updates > Tap Install and follow the instructions on screen to finish installing th update.

Apple TV: To update Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD go to Settings > System > Software Updates > select Update Software > tap Download and Install. To update third-gen Apple TV go to Settings > General > Software Updates > select Update Software > tap Download and Install.

macOS-powered devices: Go to Apple menu in the corner of your screen > choose System Preferences > click Software Update > Click Update Now or Upgrade Now button.

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