suzanne3382

Q: Can the iPhone5 be hacked remotely by a hacker?

I work for a technology company and one of our employees shared an incident about her iPhone5 being hacked remotely. The hacker gained access to her device overnight while her phone was unlocked. The hacker watched her baby monitor video feed from the baby monitoring app  (including taking pictures and video from the device), posted about the baby to her FB account, browsed on Safari, including some searches of French books on amazon and Scott Trading sites. When I spoke with the mobile device team, they were not familiar with any iOS security gaps that would allow a hacker to remotely gain control of an iPhone, however, the activities on her device suggest that this is possible.

 

I found some articles from 2009 regarding a SMS virus that allowed hackers to gain remote access to a device, however, our mobile device team is certain that this gap would be closed by now.

 

Is anyone familiar with an existing security gap on the iPhone5? What would you recommend would be the next action for her? She is intending to delete her icloud account, change all her passwords and wipe her device.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.1

Posted on Mar 19, 2013 1:23 PM

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Q: Can the iPhone5 be hacked remotely by a hacker?

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  • by tonefox,

    tonefox tonefox Nov 5, 2014 3:47 AM in response to drowl
    Level 6 (9,271 points)
    Nov 5, 2014 3:47 AM in response to drowl

    Take a good look at the Lock Screen. The camera can be opened (while the phone is locked) by sliding up the camera icon at the bottom right corner. You're probably doing it as you pick the phone up.

  • by drowl,

    drowl drowl Nov 5, 2014 11:07 AM in response to tonefox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2014 11:07 AM in response to tonefox

    Tonefox, you are a fox. Thank you. Odds are that is exactly what I am doing. Whew! Owl

  • by .jef,

    .jef .jef Dec 16, 2014 1:12 AM in response to suzanne3382
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 16, 2014 1:12 AM in response to suzanne3382

    Yesterday my three weeks old iPhone 6 Plus was next to my MacBook pro syncing with iTunes. All of a sudden my notes app opens. I hit the home button to close it. Couple of seconds later, the photo app opens, it changes to my albums, pics an album, opens a picture and zooms in on the picture.

     

    The iPhone was just there next to me while I watched it do stuff. This was not "you were asleep and did stuff without knowing it". I called my wife and she stood next to me and watched the iPhone do the things I described.

     

    The idea alone kinda freaks me out. I've been an Apple user sinds 2004 and this is my 5th iPhone and I never had any problems.

     

    Related or not, the bottom speaker of the iPhone wont work anymore, just random static sometimes. I reset the iPhone and set it up as a new one and the speaker works perfect. Restored it again with my backup and it's broken again.

     

    I'm not really happy with all this...

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 16, 2014 7:23 AM in response to .jef
    Level 9 (58,841 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 16, 2014 7:23 AM in response to .jef

    .jef wrote:

     

    Related or not, the bottom speaker of the iPhone wont work anymore, just random static sometimes. I reset the iPhone and set it up as a new one and the speaker works perfect. Restored it again with my backup and it's broken again.

    That sounds as if your back up is corrupted. Restore as new and sync your data. Don't use the back up.

     

    Random opening and closing of apps is very often a symptom of a bad charger/cable. Try a different cable.

  • by moienappleuser,

    moienappleuser moienappleuser Jan 30, 2015 2:45 PM in response to .jef
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2015 2:45 PM in response to .jef

    The same hacking happened to my iphone 5 last weekend (as described in chain, iMessges automatically get typed up with junk character and make-sense statements, Random apps opening up, camera open up, browser windows opens and typed in some url, not letting my iphone turn-off, finally managed to turn it off after multiple attempts), created a case with apple, spoke with three support guys (three of them two junior and one senior).  They are going to investigate on their end and getting back to me.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Jan 30, 2015 2:53 PM in response to moienappleuser
    Level 9 (58,841 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 30, 2015 2:53 PM in response to moienappleuser

    moienappleuser wrote:

     

    The same hacking happened to my iphone 5 last weekend

     

    It is far more likely that it is a hardware issue than hacking.

  • by moienappleuser,

    moienappleuser moienappleuser Jan 30, 2015 3:01 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2015 3:01 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Its about one year old phone, more seem like software/security issue..

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Jan 30, 2015 5:42 PM in response to moienappleuser
    Level 9 (58,841 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 30, 2015 5:42 PM in response to moienappleuser

    moienappleuser wrote:

     

    Its about one year old phone, more seem like software/security issue..

    The age of the phone is irrelevant. What you're describing sounds like a bad digitizer.

  • by .jef,

    .jef .jef Jan 30, 2015 11:47 PM in response to suzanne3382
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jan 30, 2015 11:47 PM in response to suzanne3382

    Just wanted to let you all know that I got a new iPhone from Appl. Restored it with my backup and it is working like a charm.

     

    broken speakers or "hacked" iPhone: it's a hardware thing. Your phone isn't hacked.

  • by Marbilste,

    Marbilste Marbilste Feb 9, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Concerned123456
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Concerned123456

    Same thing happening to me! How did you fix it?

  • by Marbilste,

    Marbilste Marbilste Feb 9, 2015 11:37 AM in response to moienappleuser
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2015 11:37 AM in response to moienappleuser

    I am experiencing same issue! How did you fix it? I did reset, restore, cleaned sim cad w alcohol, changed apple id...still having same issue. i just watch my phone operate on its own..goes through maps, contacts, types...I fight with it to make it stop. turns on and off my wifi, messes with my settings...

  • by moienappleuser,

    moienappleuser moienappleuser Feb 10, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Marbilste
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 10, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Marbilste

    Apple Support has not yet confirmed me what exactly is causing it.  I offered them my help and support fixing this issue.  I know when it happens to your phone it's really scary feeling.

     

    Here's what I would recommend you, to change the power charger base ("Apple 5W USB Power Adapter") if you are charging phone using power outlet and charger base can go bad especially if its third-party one or an old apple one.  I think it is either from bad charge that is causing the phone to simulate the click on randomly somewhere in the screen or it could it initiate irrational commands to one's iphone.   I hope and wish its electrical issues which is causing it (but definitely NOT the hacking).   Irrespective of which one is causing Apple can eliminate issues via next release of Software/Hardware.  Let us know in this discussion group whether it helped?, it worked for me.

     

    Here's how I came down to conclusion that it was power-charger base:

     

    When it was happening that day, I turned off my "WiFi" and "Cellular Data" and did a phone power-off, and plug back my phone back to power outlet charger.. the phone started acting weird again(as discussed in this chain) , even after disconnected from internet.  So I thought that could be "IT".  The same bad charger when I plugged into my IPAD next day, did the same to in iMessages to my confirmation.  Again Apple has to confirm yet what exactly can cause such issue whether it is electrical digital signals of touch or bad command initiated.  Hope it helps and bring some calm nerves of all those users who faced this issue :-)

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Feb 10, 2015 2:54 PM in response to moienappleuser
    Level 9 (58,841 points)
    iPhone
    Feb 10, 2015 2:54 PM in response to moienappleuser

    moienappleuser wrote:

     

    Here's what I would recommend you, to change the power charger base ("Apple 5W USB Power Adapter") if you are charging phone using power outlet and charger base can go bad especially if its third-party one or an old apple one.  I think it is either from bad charge that is causing the phone to simulate the click on randomly somewhere in the screen or it could it initiate irrational commands to one's iphone.   I hope and wish its electrical issues which is causing it (but definitely NOT the hacking).   Irrespective of which one is causing Apple can eliminate issues via next release of Software/Hardware.  Let us know in this discussion group whether it helped?, it worked for me.

    In fact, that's exactly what I suggested could be one cause of the problem back in December in this very thread. However, I disagree that this is something Apple can easily fix (or prevent 100% of the time). Fluctuations in power will cause erratic behavior in electronic devices. Beyond a certain point, Apple can't prevent that from happening.

  • by moienappleuser,

    moienappleuser moienappleuser Feb 11, 2015 6:12 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2015 6:12 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    You are not doing any favor by betting Apple can't fix it.  As a apple user, fan and investor I want Apple needs to "seriously" look at this issue or any issue for the fact when it effected few users before it balloons to it millions of it users base, after all its 700billion$$$ company now :-)

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Feb 11, 2015 7:43 AM in response to moienappleuser
    Level 6 (10,477 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 11, 2015 7:43 AM in response to moienappleuser

    I agree with Meg.

    Test: what happens when you open your Mac, go to SystemPreferences, General, and set "Allow Handoff....." to off.

    Alternative: disconnect the iPhone from internet (WiFi off, Cellular off).

    Does that make any difference?

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