Apple’s iOS update 14.4 squashes security bugs that hackers may have exploited

Apple’s newest 14.4 update to its iOS platform fixes three vulnerabilities that “may have been actively exploited” by hackers. Specifics of the exploit or the extent of the exploit have not been made public yet.

The first of these bugs was in the kernel, the heart of the operating system and affected iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. The vulnerability may have allowed a malicious application to gain access to these systems and could have been exploited. As per its security policies, Apple did not disclose the extent of the exploit or detail who might have been affected.

Two more bugs were present in WebKit, the platform which powers the company’s Safari browser. Both allowed a hacker to run malicious code on iOS and once again, the company says it could have been exploited. In the absence of any concrete information on these exploits, it is highly recommended that iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users update as soon as possible.

This is not the first time Apple’s been in the crosshairs of hackers. In 2019, Google’s researchers unearthed malicious websites that broke into iPhone undetected. Similarly, a bug in iOS 13 allowed people to see contact details stored on iPhones without the need for a passcode or fingerprint verification.

Last month, researchers from Citizen Lab found evidence of a targeted hack on Al Jazeera journalists which installed spyware on their iPhones using a bug in iMessage. It was later found that the phones had been compromised using the Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel-based NSO group. The attack allowed the hackers to record audio, take pictures and more disturbingly, track the device’s location and gain access to all passwords stored on the iPhones.