Centre issues ‘high-risk’ warning for iPhone users

New Delhi: The Union government on Wednesday issued a "high-risk" warning for users of Apple's iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and Vision Pro headsets which highlight critical vulnerability identified in connection to “remote code execution”.

As per the security advisory from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the vulnerability affects Apple software and hardware, including Apple Safari versions prior to 17.4.1, Apple macOS Ventura versions prior to 13.6.6, Apple macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.4.1, Apple visionOS versions prior to 1.1.1, Apple iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 17.4.1 and Apple iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 16.7.7.

Users of iPhone XS, iPad Pro 12.9-inch, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch, iPad Air, iPad, and iPad mini are susceptible, as per the advisory. Moreover, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation users are also at risk if their devices are not updated, the advisory warned.

Precautionary steps to avoid risk:

• Update to the latest versions containing security patches.

• Always avoid connecting to unsecured or public Wi-Fi networks to minimize the risk of unauthorized access.

• Implement 2FA which will help in adding an extra layer of security against potential credential compromises.

• Download apps and software from reliable sources like the Apple App Store which will help in mitigating the risk of malware.

• Back up important data regularly to safeguard against dataloss.