By Segun Oniyide
Apple quietly issued a fix for a security flaw in iPhones and iPads Friday that could have allowed hackers to intercept messages sent from phones to websites,Most Apple devices will automatically update themselves. Apple is working on a patch for its computersA security flaw could allow email and passwords to be intercepted from millions of Apple’s iPhones.
The flaw allows hackers to intercept and change email messages and login credentials on multiple Apple products.
Apple released a patch Friday for the security problem. Most phones, iPods and iPads will update automatically and the security hole will be closed.
The patch was issued for iPhones 4 and 5, the fifth generation iPod touch and the second generation iPad.”For iOS users: Go to your settings icon – you should see a little red “1? tellingyou there’s an update available Click on it, and then go to Software Update and then “Install Now.”
Apple said that a software update to protect Apple computers against hackers and spies who might try to exploit the flaw would be issued “very soon
The flaw exploits a vulnerability with security certificates signed by what are known as “trusted certificate authorities.”
Most importantly, the certificates carry a code called a hash showing they have not been tamperedwith.
That would allow a malicious hacker to perpetrate what’s known as a Man in the Middle Attack. Here, someone uses a faked certificate of authority to fool the device into believe it is interacting with a trusted host.
That allows the Man in the Middle to intercept all the messages including passwords that go between a person’s iPhone and a web site.
