Apple issues critical updates for Mac – Users MUST update OS X, Safari

Apple has issued urgent security updates for Mac and Safari — Update right now.

Now this is what we call something that’s serious and requires immediate action and attention from Mac users. Apple is trying out all possible forums to alert Mac users about a critical security threat and also urging them to update OSX and Safari at the earliest.

It has been only a week since LookOut security firm and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reported about identifying an iOS security flaw that can be used to hack the iPhones of famous personalities, journalists, and activists. The exploiters of this flaw were identified to be the NSO Group, an Israeli-sponsored hacking collective that sells software for tracking a person’s mobile phone. It must be noted that many of the governments are among this groups’ regular clients.

When this news surfaced, Apple, like always, was quick to respond. The company released an update to fix the issues that make iOS devices including iPhones and iPads that were running on iOS 9. However, it has been learnt that the flaw is also present in the OS X and Safari browser, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation.

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Therefore, Apple had no other choice but to release an update on urgent basis for OS X Yosemite, OS X El Captain and Safari 9.1.3. According to the update description of Safari, the exploit involves sending users phish emails that would lead them to malicious websites and then the attacker would run code on the system to infect it.

Must Read: 11 easy tips to secure your Mac against hackers

For your information, the entire exploitation feat came to the limelight when a UAE-based activist Ahmed Mansoor started receiving SMS messages from an unknown and suspicious looking number. One of the messages contained a malware, which when opened let the attackers access the phone’s call log, incoming/outgoing messages information, camera and microphone.

So if you are using Mac, simply open the App Store on your MAC and click the Update icon.