Millions of iPhone owners urged to act ‘now’ or risk costly consequences

CYBER-EXPERTS have issued an urgent warning to millions of iPhone owners.

Anyone with an iPhone is being urged to check their handset for a new software update – and install it as soon as possible.

Millions of iPhone models require a software update to stay safeCredit: Apple

The update includes an important security fix designed to block hackers from exploiting a “hole” in iPhone defences.

“Apple revealed that it is aware that threat actors are actively exploiting the vulnerability,” Malwarebytes Lab cyber-expert Pieter Arntz wrote.

“The bug was found in WebKit which is Apple’s web rendering engine. In other words, WebKit is the browser engine that powers Safari and other apps.

“Apple says the impact of the vulnerability is that processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.

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Your iPhone just changed forever – millions must check their settings right now

iPhone owners are now being urged to install either the iOS 16.1.2 or iOS 16.2 updates.

To do that, simply go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the instructions.

Cyber-experts say that the hack could allow hackers to execute code on your iPhone.

This potentially allows them to take control of the device – and even spy on you.

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“The underlying issue was what is called a “type confusion” issue, which was addressed with improved state handling,” Pieter explained.

“Type confusion vulnerabilities are programming flaws that happen when a piece of code doesn’t verify the type of object that is passed to it before using it.

“Type confusion can allow an attacker to feed function pointers or data into the wrong piece of code. In some cases, this can lead to code execution.”

Apple says that the vulnerability may have been actively exploited by hackers.

That means some iPhone owners may have already fallen victim to an attack.

It’s not publicly known who was responsible, but cyber-experts think highly sophisticated attackers were behind the “exploitation”.

“Another clue was given when Apple revealed that security researchers at Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which investigates nation state-backed spyware, hacking, and cyberattacks, discovered and reported the WebKit bug,” Pieter noted.

“That might give you an idea about who was using the exploit in the wild.”

If you have an eligible iPhone, you must update your device immediately.

Here’s a list of the all the supported devices: