It’s updating time. Again. Apple issued a series of warnings Monday aimed at Mac, iPhone, and iPad owners. The tech giant alerted customers to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS vulnerabilities, which could leave their devices open to hackers.
And to be clear, Apple said the vulnerabilities aren’t just theoretical.
“Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited,” warned the company.
The problem appears to be the same or similar in effect for all three operating systems. “An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges,” explained Apple.
Which, well, isn’t good. Thankfully, there’s an easy fix — albeit one that requires you to actually do something.
For iPhone and iPad owners (assuming you have an iPhone 6s or later, an iPad Pro, an iPad Air 2 or an iPad 5th generation or later, an iPad mini 4 or later, or an iPod touch 7th generation), all you need to do is download and install iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1.
To do so, plug your device into a power source and go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the directions there.
For Mac owners, click the Apple button (in the upper-left corner of your screen) > About This Mac > Software Update > Update Now.
Once you’ve done that, you can sit back and rest easy, knowing that you’ve at least done the bare minimum to keep your Mac, iPhone, and iPad safe from hackers.