Apple releases emergency patch to protect photos and other iPhone data

Anuja Nadkarni15:38, Aug 27 2019
The security update is available for iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation.
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The security update is available for iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation.

Apple has released an urgent patch to fix a bug that allows hackers to break into its iPhones and iPads, potentially to access private photos. 

The vulnerability had previously been fixed by Apple after it was identified by a Google researcher, but it was accidently reopened as a result of another software upgrade Apple released in June.

The technology giant said a malicious application could "execute arbitrary code with system privileges".

A patch is available now for iPhones from the model 5s upwards, the iPad Air and later, and 6th generation iPod touches.

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US research analyst Blake Collins, quoted by US site threatpost.com, said photos, emails, phone numbers and possibly even banking data could be stolen from unpatched iPhones if people installed apps that exploited the escalated privileges.

The fault can also be exploited by iPhone owners themselves to "jailbreak" their devices and run code and apps that Apple has not approved to run in its tightly-controlled technology environment. 

 

 

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