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Apple releases iOS 9.3.5 to fix a major iPhone and iPad security flaw

Updated Aug 25th, 2016 1:33PM EDT
iOS 9.3.5 Download iPhone iPad

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With less than two weeks to go until the iPhone 7 unveiling, Apple has released another update for iOS 9, and this is one you’re going to want to download as soon as you possibly can. According to The New York Times, Apple discovered that NSO Group, an intelligence gathering firm out of Israel, was taking advantage of multiple vulnerabilities that allowed them to read texts and emails, track calls, record audio, collect passwords and even track a user’s location.

DON’T MISS: New video goes behind the scenes of an iPhone 7 leak for the first time ever

If you want to keep your private information secure, it’s probably best to update immediately. In order to download and install iOS 9.3.5, either head to Settings> General > Software Update on your iOS device, or plug the device into your computer, at which point iTunes will alert you that an update is available.

If you want to know more about the vulnerabilities, Vice has an incredible (and incredibly detailed) account of how it was discovered:

“On the morning of August 10, Ahmed Mansoor, a 46-year-old human rights activist from the United Arab Emirates, received a strange text message from a number he did not recognize on his iPhone.

“New secrets about torture of Emiratis in state prisons,” read the tantalizing message, which came accompanied by a link.

Mansoor, who had already been the victim of government hackers using commercial spyware products from FinFisher and Hacking Team, was suspicious and didn’t click on the link. Instead, he sent the message to Bill Marczak, a researcher at Citizen Lab, a digital rights watchdog at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

As it turned out, the message wasn’t what it purported to be.”

You should absolutely read the full piece, but before you do, make sure that all of your iOS devices are updated to iOS 9.3.5.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.