MacOS X update: Apple releases urgent patch for bug that allowed iPhones to be hacked with just one press

The bug is similar to the Pegasus malware that was discovered last week

A staff member of Japanese electronic retailer Bic Camera walks past an advertising poster of Apple MacBook laptops in Tokyo, August 25, 2015 (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

Apple has pushed out an urgent security update for Macs to stop them being taken over by hackers.

The update – for OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite and the Safari browser, protects against a security vulnerability that was discovered in iPhones last week.

That malware was exceptionally powerful, since it let hackers take over devices if their owners clicked just one link. It was discovered after a human rights activist received one such link, and sent it to security researchers to analyse.

The company already pushed out an update to iOS, when the Pegasus malware was first made public. The company recommends that everyone download that update as well as the one for Mac.

iOS and OS X share a substantial amount of code, so vulnerabilities that exist in one of the pieces of software tend also to be found in another.

Apple actually pushed out two patches. One is for OS X, and the other is for Safari itself – both will patch the vulnerability but the latter is meant for people who can’t update the former.

The update is installed by heading to the Mac App Store and clicking on the Update button in the top right corner.

It’s possible that your computer might have actually updated without your knowledge already. If so, that update page will have nothing to show.