Apple has said all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are affected by a pervasive flaw in chip design that has led to two vulnerabilities, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, Financial Times reported.
Apple said that it had already released mitigations in iOS 11.2 and macOS 10.13.2 to defend against Meltdown and that the Apple watch is not affected by Meltdown. The technology giant said it plans to release mitigations in web browser Safari to defence against Spectre.
“All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time,” Apple said on a support page. “Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on your Mac or iOS device, we recommend downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store.”
Technology companies are racing to plug the industry-wide security hole that stems from a common flaw in chip designs that could expose almost all computer users to the theft of at least some sensitive data. The predicament, revealed this week, stems from serious flaws that have been discovered in chips made by Intel, AMD and Arm that are used in almost all computers, servers and smartphones.
Security experts have warned that the only way for companies to fully protect themselves against hackers is to completely replace their computer systems.
