This week, Apple released a series of patches for several zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS These vulnerabilities have already been exploited by malicious parties to install spyware and steal personal data Therefore, we recommend that you update your phone as soon as possible

iOS 1651 is available for download now and fixes a serious security flaw that allowed hackers to access all personal data stored on your iPhone if it is an iPhone 8 or newer This particular vulnerability was first detected in Russia, where thousands of Russian government officials have reportedly had their iPhones infected with spyware This is a kernel issue, which allows malicious actors to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges This means that hackers can execute any code they want on targeted devices

According to The Washington Post, hackers have been sending malicious attachments via iMessage that infect and grant access to target iPhones Apple's latest iOS patch also fixes a vulnerability in WebKit, the framework that allows developers to display web pages on Apple devices This vulnerability also allowed hackers to steal users' personal information by executing arbitrary code on the target's device

The attack has only been seen on devices running iOS 157 or earlier, Apple said on its update support page While that means the company is not aware of any hacks on devices running later versions of iOS, those systems could still be vulnerable That's why Apple is urging all users to download iOS 1651, even if their iPhones are already protected from the vulnerability in question

Even US authorities are taking this security threat seriously: the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has added the two vulnerabilities to its catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities and urged federal agencies to download the latest updates by July 13

Even if you are not a likely target of spyware, if you have the best iPhone, this is a great time to update your device iOS 1651 can be downloaded to your device right now by going to Settings, selecting General, and then Software Update Software Update