The company appears reassuring after the late admission of the problem
After a day of silence, Apple announced that all iPhone, iPad and Mac devices are affected by the two serious security vulnerabilities that have just been discovered in almost all widely used processors (chips) of Intel, AMD and ARM.
Like other companies rushing to fix backdoors called Meltdown and Specter before hackers exploited them, Apple has announced that it has already released some security upgrades to its Meltdown software. In the next few days it will do the same for Specter, releasing an upgrade for the Safari web browser it uses on its computers and mobile phones. Mac and iOS devices could be hacked if they exploit the Specter security loophole through malicious code that will "run" in Safari.
Apple, according to Reuters and the BBC, however, reassured the owners of its products that it has no indication that the security gaps have already been "exploited" by hackers. However, it advised all its users, except for the necessary security upgrades, to avoid "downloading" software and applications from internet sources that are not completely reliable.
Mac and iPhone and iPad users tend to think that their devices are less vulnerable than those using Windows and Android operating systems. But in the case of security vulnerabilities in the CPUs, the problem affects potentially all users without exception.
According to Apple, Meltdown and Specter "affect all modern processors and affect almost all computing devices and operating systems."
The company said it had already released "patches" for Meltdown with the latest iOS 11.2 software upgrade for iPhones and iPad, and did the same with the macOS 10.12.2 upgrade for MacBooks and iMacs.
Meltdown does not affect "smart" Apple Watch watches, which do not have Intel chips. Apple TVs, on the other hand, are affected by the need for these appropriate software upgrades.
For its part, Google has assured that Android mobile users (over 80% of the global market) are protected if they have the latest security upgrades.
Source: News247