The tech giant company Apple said on Thursday it has found “no evidence” a flaw in its email app for iPhones and iPads has been used against customers, and that it believes the flaw does “not pose an immediate risk to our users”.
San Francisco-based cybersecurity firm ZecOps on Wednesday detailed a flaw that it said may have left more than half a billion iPhones vulnerable to hackers. Zuk Avraham, ZecOps’ chief executive, told Reuters he found evidence the vulnerability was exploited in at least six cybersecurity break-ins.
Apple said that the vulnerabilities, which ZecOps claimed date back as far as iOS 6, do not pose an immediate risk to its users and will be addressed in a forthcoming software update. When it originally disclosed the vulnerabilities, ZecOps said that Apple had already addressed the issues in the beta version of Apple Mail.
Apple’s full statement can be found below:
“Apple takes all reports of security threats seriously. We have thoroughly investigated the researcher’s report and, based on the information provided, have concluded these issues do not pose an immediate risk to our users. The researcher identified three issues in Mail, but alone they are insufficient to bypass iPhone and iPad security protections, and we have found no evidence they were used against customers. These potential issues will be addressed in a software update soon. We value our collaboration with security researchers to help keep our users safe and will be crediting the researcher for their assistance.”
In response to Apple’s statement, ZecOps said it found evidence of related hacks against “a few organizations” and that it would share additional technical information once Apple released its software update to the public.
