In recent news, there has been a growing concern about the security of Apple devices in relation to Pegasus spyware. So it’s unfortunate that a zero day exploit called Blastpass, has been found on an iPhone of an unnamed Washington DC employee.
According to Citizen Lab the organisation that discovered Blastpass. This new spyware is able to be delivered to a victims phone via images, without the need for the user to click on the image. It seems that the images which are sent from a fake iMessage account. Are then processed to something called Passkit, which is a suite of code that allows developers to access the Apple Pay infrastructure for their apps. This in turn gives the hacker access to your device.
Fortunately Apple has been aware of the Pegasus spyware for sometime. So there is a security update that Apple recommends we all use to update our Apple computers, tablets and smartphones. As per Apples security release notes, anyone using iOS or iPadOS should update to iOS 16.6.1. Anyone using macOS 13 needs to update to 13.5.2. Anyone using tvOS should be running 16.2, and anyone with an Apple Watch needs to be using 9.6.2
While your Apple device may already be set to auto-update. We recommend that you check that all of your devices have been updated.
How to update iOS or iPadOS
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to a power source.
- Confirm that your iPhone or iPad is using a Wi-Fi network as the update is roughly 3Gb in size.
- Open the “Settings” on your device.
- Scroll down and tap on “General“.
- Tap on “Software Update“.
- Your device will check for available updates. If an update is available, you will see a message indicating it.
Confirm that macOS is up to date
- Open “System Settings” – “General“
- Under “General” locate and select “Software Update“
- Your device will check for available updates. If an update is available, you will see a message indicating it.
Check that tvOS is up to date
- Go to “Settings” and select “System“
- Within “System” choose Software updates and choose “Update Software“
- Your device will check for available updates. If an update is available, you will see a message indicating it.
Update your watchOS
- Make sure your watch is connected to WiFi
- Locate and choose “Settings”
- Tap “General” and choose “Software Update“
- Your device will check for available updates. If an update is available, you will see a message indicating it.
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