Apple on Thursday released iOS 9.3.5. The update was released to fix some quite serious security issues.
The New York Times reports that iOS 9.3.5 fixes a very serious security hole.
One of the world’s most evasive digital arms dealers is believed to have been taking advantage of three security vulnerabilities in popular Apple products in its efforts to spy on dissidents and journalists.
Investigators discovered that a company called the NSO Group, an Israeli outfit that sells software that invisibly tracks a target’s mobile phone, was responsible for the intrusions. The NSO Group’s software can read text messages and emails and track calls and contacts. It can even record sounds, collect passwords and trace the whereabouts of the phone user.
In response, Apple on Thursday released a patched version of its mobile software, iOS 9.3.5. Users can get the patch through a normal software update.
Apple fixed the holes 10 days after a tip from two researchers, Bill Marczak and John Scott Railton, at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company.
iOS 9.3.5 is available as an over-the-air update. To download it, go to the Settings app, tap “General,” “Software Update.” Then just follow the prompts. (You might want to make sure you’ve backed up your device recently, you know how these things can sometimes go wrong. Isn’t that right, 9.7-inch iPad Pro users?)
iOS 9.3.5 is likely to be the last update to the iOS 9 mobile operating system before iOS 10 makes the scene. But, that’s what we said about the iOS 9.3.4 update, so…
