Apple That

We are arriving fashionably late with this information, but it is still important to know. So my fellow consumer, prepare to arm yourself with the power of a refreshed intellect.

If you are like me, and for some reason have not yet upgraded to iOS 9.3.5, you will soon have two reasons for doing so. The first ,and most obvious, reason  to update is that iOS 10 will soon be available. However; if you do not want to upgrade to iOS10, and have not yet upgraded to iOS 9.3.5, you should know that this update is essential to keeping all personal information on your Apple device secure. If your Apple device hasn’t already been updated, I strongly urge you to do so now. To update go to Settings > General > Software Update.

According to reports from New York Times and Motherboard, an undetectable malware program has been found that can install and uninstall itself without the smartphone owner even knowing, and it is able to access your camera and microphone making it extremely dangerous. If you receive suspicious texts you shouldn’t click on any links that have been put into the message.  As soon as the link is clicked the malware instantly starts tracking any personal data and with the growing dependence on smartphones, more and more people rely on them to hold key personal data. In addition to the ability to access your iPhone’s camera and microphone, the spyware was also capable of accessing messages, emails, logs, and more from apps such as Gmail, Facebook, skype for business uk, WhatsApp, Viber, FaceTime, Calendar, and much more.

It took merely 10 days for Apple to release an update to combat the holes pointed out to them by Citizen Lab and Lookout. Though this may seem like a long time, when compared to Android this update came out at seemingly lightspeed. This is mainly because there are tens of thousands of distinctive Android devices as opposed to a fraction of the amount of devices coming from Apple, which furthermore all run on the same core software.

This incident goes to show you that even the all-praised for security Apple devices are even vulnerable to malware and security threats from time to time. The best way to keep your device secure is to keep your phone updated. If it hadn’t been for the folks at Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary lab based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, this spyware would probably still exist.

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Content originally published here.