Apple warns iPhones, iPads and Mac computers hit by Intel flaw

By Alix Culbertson, News Reporter

Apple has confirmed an Intel glitch has affected all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

The US tech giant said the processor flaws, known as Meltdown and Spectre, could leave millions of customers exposed to hackers.

It emerged this week that developers have been trying to prevent hackers taking advantage of the flaw in microprocessors built by Intel and ARM.

There has been no evidence so far the flaws have been exploited by hackers.

However, as developers try to fix the flaws this is causing devices to slow down by up to 50% when performing computer tasks requiring a lot of storage or network usage.

In a blog post, Apple said it had released software updates for iOS, its phone and tablets software, macOS, used by its computers, and tvOS for its television products.

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It said the Apple Watch is not affected by Spectre.

Users should only download apps from trusted sources to avoid being made vulnerable, the post said

"Security researchers have recently uncovered security issues known by two names, Meltdown and Spectre," Apple added.

"These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems.

"All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time.

"Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on your Mac or iOS device, we recommend downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store."

Apple said it will release an update for its web browser, Safari, in the next few days.

A spokesman for the National Cyber Security Centre told Sky News: "We are aware of reports about a potential flaw affecting some computer processors.