Security Threat for iPhone Users: Government Issues High-Risk Alert

New Delhi: The country's apex cybersecurity agency, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a serious alert for crores of Indians using Apple devices. This agency, working under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has clearly warned that such serious flaws have been found in all Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, taking advantage of which hackers can break into your device. This warning is for all those users who do not update their devices on time.

What is the real root of this danger?

According to CERT-In, these flaws arise from technical weaknesses present in different parts of Apple's operating system. These include technical flaws such as type confusion, memory mismanagement, buffer overflows, race conditions, and incorrect privilege handling. Due to these vulnerabilities, attackers can be successful in infiltrating the device without permission.

Which devices are at risk?

This threat engulfs Apple's entire ecosystem. In this, devices running on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS are affected. Especially those devices that are running on versions older than iOS 18 are most at risk. This warning also applies to older versions of the Safari browser and Xcode software.

What can hackers do with your device?

The possible threats enumerated by the agency are hair-raising. Attackers can run arbitrary code on the device, gaining admin-level access. Can break layers of security and access your personal information. Apart from this, the entire service can be stopped through data manipulation, memory corruption and DoS i.e. Denial of Service attack. Two WebKit vulnerabilities, CVE-2025-43529 and CVE-2025-14174, have already been used in real attacks.

What to do now?

CERT-In has advised users to update all their Apple devices immediately. On iPhone and iPad, updating can be done by going to Settings > General > Software Update. On Mac, the option of software update is available in System Settings. Along with this, avoid clicking on unknown links, do not download suspicious apps and install apps only from the App Store. Make sure to keep a backup of your important data also.

Do companies also need to be alert?

This threat is not limited to ordinary users only. CERT-In has clearly stated that IT teams working on Apple devices in government and private organizations should also apply security patches to all systems without delay. This needs to be a priority in offices that handle sensitive data, as even a single outdated device can pose a threat to the entire network. Apple has released patches to fix these flaws, but those patches will only work if you update.