Apple attack: What you need to know about the Meltdown and Spectre microchip bugs

Warning as Apple flaw leaves all devices 'vulnerable' to hackers

Here is our guide to the bugs and what you should do about them.

* Meltdown and Spectre are bugs affecting microchips - which nearly all computers use.

Apple products are at risk of attack from the microchip bugs.

* Meltdown affects laptops, desktop PCs and servers with Intel chips. Spectre affects chips in smartphones, tablets and computers with Intel, ARM and AMD chips.

* Data devices connected to the cloud are also vulnerable.

* Gaps in the chips' security have recently been exposed, and there are fears hackers could breach them - although this hasn't happened yet.

* The tech industry has known about the problem for around six months, but the information wasn't made public while they attempted to fix the flaws.

* Around 90 per cent of PCs are powered by Intel chips.

* The bugs enable a hacker to discover information stored on a PC's memory, such as passwords and even credit card data.

* Microsoft, Apple and Linux have all created security updates called 'patches' to protect against Meltdown, and these are expected to be made available soon.

* Apple's products, including Macs, iPhones and iPads, are all affected, apart from the newest version of the iOS software, 11.2 They are also releasing anti-Spectre updates this month.

* Microsoft's emergency patch was released on Thursday.

* Google said Android phones with the most recent security updates are protected, and users of web services like Gmail are also safe. Chrome web browser users are expected to receive a patch later this month.

Warning as Apple flaw leaves all devices 'vulnerable' to hackers