Apple responds to recent virus threat to their once flawless operating system, saying that they put secure systems in their devices.
"We designed OS X and iOS with built-in security safeguards to help protect customers and warn them before installing potentially malicious software," the Cupertino-based company said in a statement.
"We're not aware of any customers that have actually been affected by this attack. We encourage customers to only download from trusted sources like the App Store and to pay attention to any warnings as they download apps," Apple stressed.
Fire Eye Inc., a cyber security and malware protection agency discovered that Apple's widely used operating system is vulnerable to cyber attacks and released a blog post about how the attack could affect Apple devices.
FireEye said that the virus affects all Apple devices operating on iOS 7 or later, a whopping 95 percent of all Apple mobile devices currently used today.
The shocking news prompted government authorities, including the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Teams together with the National Cyber security and Communications Integration Center to announce online informing users about a "Masque Attack," fake applications that mimic legitimate bank or email apps that could "siphon off user's personal information back to hackers without them knowing."
The U.S. agencies called for Apple Users to take precaution in downloading apps from Apple's Store, saying that they must only install apps knowing that there is not third-party installations involved.
"This technique takes advantage of a security weakness that allows an untrusted app -- with the same 'bundle identifier' as that of a legitimate app -- to replace the legitimate app on an affected device, while keeping all of the user's data," states a bulletin from the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
Just recently, Palo Alto Networks Inc also discovered some iOS apps with potential malware infection named "WireLurker" which targets Mac users. The virus could spread in other devices including the iPad and iPhone when connected to the infected "host" computer.
Both "WireLurker" and "Masque Attack" are able to access personal data including email logins, bank details stored in the phone and other significant credentials.
