Apple lovers listen up!

Although we know we shouldn’t, the majority of us keep sensitive messages and images on our phones. Time and time again, we see incidents of online identity fraud and hacking scandals which experts claim could be easily be avoided if proper precautions are taken. The general consensus seems to be- why would anyone want to hack me, I’m not interesting enough. However, a major flaw has been discovered in Apple products that make it really easy for hackers to take over your phone using a simple iMessage or email. This flaw allows hackers to take over an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac or Apple TV. The vulnerability has been found in Apple’s picture-handling Image I/O API meaning that hackers using malware called a Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) can break through Apple’s security and run their own code on a device. Speaking to The Guardian, Tyler Bohan from Cisco Talos said:

“This vulnerability is especially concerning as it can be triggered in any application that makes use of the Apple Image I/O API when rendering TIFF images Depending on the delivery method chosen by an attacker, this vulnerability is potentially exploitable through methods that do not require explicit user interaction since many applications (ie iMessage) automatically attempt to render images when they are received in their default configurations”

This means that hackers can send an image to an unsuspecting target and when it is opened, the attacker can gain full control of the device, stealing passwords, logins, pictures, bank details and other sensitive information without the user even knowing about it. Apple has released iOS 9.3.3 to address the bug on Monday, so those who have not updated their device are urged to do so as they are still at risk of an attack. Unfortunately, this update is not available if you have an iPhone 4 or older model.