Apple Emergency Security update: Why were iPhone users urged to update phone immediately?

American Tech giant Apple on Monday released emergency security updates for its iPhones iPads, Apple Watches and Mac computers. With the urgent update, the company looked at closing its products’ vulnerability to invasive spyware. Security researchers had earlier uncovered a flaw in the company’s software that allowed highly invasive spyware from Israel’s NSO Group to infect anyone of its products easily.  

Apple emergency security update came after the developers found spyware called Pegasus, easily infecting the product software. According to international reports, Apple’s security team worked around the clock to come up with a security update for Apple device after researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization at the University of Toronto found the spyware infection. The researchers first discovered the Pegasus spyware on a Saudi activist’s iPhone.

Apple iPhone security update

The Apple emergency update came after the Pegasus spyware was found in an iPhone. According to reports, Pegasus uses a method to infect Apple devices without victims’ knowledge. Known as a “zero-click remote exploit,” the problematic surveillance system allows governments, mercenaries and criminals to secretly break into someone’s device and breach data. The NSO spyware’s presence in iPhone suggests that more than 1.65 billion Apple products have been vulnerable to spyware worldwide. However, the company now claims that the apple emergency update has fixed the problem and the devices are now safe to use.

Pegasus snoop row in India

Earlier, the Israeli spyware had risen to attention when reports had surfaced claiming that 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers were allegedly spied upon using the surveillance technology. As per a 'leaked' database, numbers of those allegedly spied upon using the Pegasus spyware include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving cabinet ministers, current and former heads, and officials of security organizations and businessmen. The target also includes the eight activists. The report claimed that the leaked numbers mainly belong to ten countries - India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Supreme Court is now set to hear a bunch of pleas seeking an SC-monitored probe into the allegations.

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