First-Ever Automatic Update Released For Mac, Would Prevent Hacker To Gain Remote Control

Apple Inc has pushed out its first-ever automatic update that fixes a critical security issue in Macintosh computers. The security vulnerability could enable hackers to gain remote control of machines.

The update was pushed out on Monday in a component of its OS X operating system called the network time protocol - used for synchronizing clocks on computer systems.

The security vulnerabilities were made public in security bulletins on Friday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute.

Apple had introduced automatic tool years ago, however this was the first time it actually used it. Typically, the company seeks user approval even for security updates. The deployment of updates automatically indicates that the threat was high enough.

According to Apple, the affected version were Mountain Lion v10.8.5, Mavericks v10.9.5 and Yosemite v10.10.1.

Although, the update might have installed on most of the systems by now, in case you haven't seen the notifications yet, open up the App Store on the Mac and navigate to the Updates tab.