Just a few days after admitting that all iPhones and Mac devices are at risk of being affected by Spectre and Meltdown, Apple has released a fix for its iOS and Mac devices .
The two nasty security bugs, which affect almost all Intel, AMD and ARM-powered computers, were unearthed earlier this month. The fix came in the form of software updates; iOS 11.2.2 and macOS 10.13.2 and have already been pushed out to devices.
The company, in a note posted on the support pages said “To help defend against Spectre, Apple has released mitigations in iOS 11.2.2, the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update, and Safari 11.0.2 for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. Apple Watch is not affected by either Meltdown or Spectre.”
iOS 11.2.2 Update
All iPhone and iPad owners can download the new iOS 11.2.2 update right away. So grab the update while it’s still hot! In case you are struggling to install the update, head to the General Tab under the Settings app and go to Software Update, the rest of it is pretty self-explanatory. The iOS 11.2.2 is available for iPhone 5s, and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation.
macOS 10.13.2 Update
Download the latest macOS 10.13.2 by going to the Updates section in the Mac App Store, if you haven’t already.
Apple is struggling to find ways to mitigate Spectre and Meltdown via hardware fix as there is none. Therefore, the company is forced to patch the holes by releasing supplemental software updates. Better to be safe than be sorry, right?
Apple also bumped Safari to 11.0.2 to mitigate the effects of the Spectre vulnerability. This update is explicitly released for macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 users.
In case you are wondering if now’s the time to panic and burn it all down, not yet. Our advice? Keep calm and install the updates!
