Those of us who love our Apple devices, for the way they all play together so nicely and are so simple to use, can sometimes be a bit smug about their invulnerability to viruses. (see our earlier post: Happy new mac). That may be true, but it was revealed this week that Apple had ‘seriously dropped the ball’ on security and that iPhones and iPads running the iOS 7 operating system and laptops running OS X have been vulnerable to hacking.

This meant that if you were browsing the Internet when out and about, hackers could potentially intercept your personal and security information on its way to various websites, such as banking sites or Facebook.

The good news is that Apple has issued software updates for both operating systems, and these have fixed the problem. If you have noticed your Apple computer or mobile device asking you to update the software – do it now! It’s always a good idea to install Apple’s updates when they come out, (see our earlier post:Don’t download that update yet) and this one is really important to protect your online security and prevent identity theft.

If you aren’t sure how to find out whether you have the most up-to-date software, follow these simple steps:

On a mobile device, go to Settings – General – Software Update. Your device will tell you if you need to install the update and will walk you through the steps; the latest version is iOS 7.0.6.

On a laptop, click on the Apple icon in the top left of your screen and go to ‘Software Update’. This will open a new window in which you will see if any updates are available. The latest version is 10.9.2.

Once you’re up-to-date, you can browse the Internet with wild abandon, confident that Apple’s encryption systems will be keeping your information secure.