Apple Java Update: Mac Owners Should Go Download This Security Fix Right Now

Mac Owners Should Go Download This Security Fix Right Now
This Wednesday, June 13, 2012 photo shows the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, in New York. The new laptop features a display that has four times as many pixels as a standard display. The Retina MacBook starts at $2199, nearly three times as much as the average consumer spends on a laptop, but it isnt a bad price for the video editors, photographers and graphic designers who are the intended buyers. Compared to the regular MacBook model, its thinner, lighter and lacks a DVD drive. It even lacks an Ethernet port for Internet connections. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
This Wednesday, June 13, 2012 photo shows the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, in New York. The new laptop features a display that has four times as many pixels as a standard display. The Retina MacBook starts at $2199, nearly three times as much as the average consumer spends on a laptop, but it isnt a bad price for the video editors, photographers and graphic designers who are the intended buyers. Compared to the regular MacBook model, its thinner, lighter and lacks a DVD drive. It even lacks an Ethernet port for Internet connections. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

On Tuesday morning Apple revealed that some of its computers had been infiltrated, perhaps by the same Chinese hackers who had also attacked Facebook, in what Reuters described as the "widest known cyber attacks targeting Apple computers used by corporations." Later Tuesday afternoon, responding quickly to the hack, Apple released an update for Mac computers that closes the security hole those hackers exploited in their attacks, making the patch available for all Mac owners.

Needless to say, if you own a Mac computer, you should probably go download that update right about now.

The update, which you can read about on the Apple website here, disables the Java plug-in on all Mac browsers. Hackers used a hole in Java to infect the Apple computers, according to a Reuters report.

To download this update, open up your App Store, click on the Updates tab and install the Java for OS X update. Apple has also made the critical update available for download from its website right here.

You'll need to shut down all of your web browsers before you install the update; but don't worry, HuffPost will still be here when you get back (and the web will be safer for you, too!).

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