Why SMS is attempting to connect to internet? Am I hacked?

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Level 1

15 points

Why SMS is attempting to connect to internet? Am I hacked?

Symptom: I am using my iPhone abroad and have Data Roaming turned off. When I open SMS application to write text messages, I immediately get an error message "Data Roaming is turned off".

It seems the SMS application is attempting to connect to internet, as the same message pops up with other apps using internet, when Data Roaming and wifi are off.

Why should SMS connect to internet? I don't see any reason, excpept perhaps if my iPhone is hacked and the malware is attempting to send my SMSs to some server somewhere. As there has been news of a hack of this kind recently, I am a bit scared, even if the hack was a demonstration.

The behaviour is quite recent, I've sent tons of SMSs abroad before without getting any error messages.

(Come to think of it, I had another weird experience recently when a friend received several copies of our earlier messages to her (bulk Nokia) phone, instead of the message that I sent her. At a time I thought her Nokia just got messed up and for some reason retrieved deleted messages from the phone's memory, but now I am not so sure...)

Is there any - reliable - way to check see whether my phone is compromised?

(And, generally, is there any tool to monitor my iPhone's network traffic?)

PLEASE ADVICE!

3GS, iPhone OS 3.1.3

Posted on May 8, 2010 6:06 PM

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Answer 1

May 8, 2010 6:10 PM in response to jhv

There are no hacks for standard iPhones. There are some for jailbroken iPhones.

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Answer 2

May 8, 2010 7:38 PM in response to jhv

SMS does not use the internet. SMS messages are transmitted and received via the cellular data network. http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/#messages.sending-and-receiving-messages

If you are outside your carrier's normal network (i.e., out of the country) with data roaming turned off, you can't send or receive SMS messages. If you turn data roaming ON when not in your home country, it will get very expensive unless you have arranged an international data roaming package with your carrier.

Apps that use the internet need either WiFi or data roaming ON.

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Answer 3

May 9, 2010 5:16 AM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Your response makes no sense.

If SMS does not use the Internet, as you correctly stated, why does data roaming need to be turned on? Phones that have no Internet capability at all can still send and receive SMS. SMS uses the voice network's control channel, which is not Internet. I have been able to send and receive SMS outside of my home country with data roaming off. So there is something else going on in the OP's phone.

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Answer 4

May 9, 2010 6:02 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:
Your response makes no sense.

You're right, it doesn't. Must have been having one of those senior moments.

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Answer 5

May 9, 2010 6:41 AM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Happens to all of us.

What just occurred to me that the message may have been an MMS with a web link in it, which would require Internet to display.

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Answer 6

jhv Author

Level 1

15 points

May 9, 2010 10:11 AM in response to jhv

Thanks for pondering on the issue. I am still in the dark, however. I have a stadard iPhone, not jailbroken. And, yes, there has been a succesful hack on the standard iPhones:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/pwn2own-2010-iphone-hacked-sms-database-hijac ked/5836

I have been sending standard sms messages, not mms or anything the like, so no need for the phone to attempt to use cellular data nor wifi connections. And please note that the error message appears more or less immediately when I open the SMS application, ie. even if I haven't sent or received any messages.

I don't get the message when wifi is on and connected, so I think this only confirms that something is attempting to connect to internet and when wifi is on, is successful.

Scary, huh?

BTW, is anyone from APPLE reading these pages?

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Answer 7

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,297 points

May 9, 2010 10:17 AM in response to jhv

No. Apple does not read these pages.

If you read the link that you provided, you see the phone was hacked through Safari, and the hack resulted in the possibility of obtaining the SMS database, not crashing the SMS application and having it request the Internet.

I'm inclined to belive as an earlier poster stated that maybe you were receiving an MMS and that could be causing the request. I would restore the phone as a new phone and then do a sync that would restore your contacts, calendar, music, etc. however would clear the SMS. See if that helps.

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Answer 8

jhv Author

Level 1

15 points

May 9, 2010 2:54 PM in response to jhv

Hello. As a matter of fact, the SMS application is not crashing. It is just attempting to connect when launched and then works as usual. And no, there isn't a MMS coming or going. (If there was, the transfer should have been finished at those numerous times I was connected via wifi, shouldn't it?)

The error message keeps coming every time SMS app is launched, day after day, so I guess it is not related to any individual message, but the app itself.

If there was a "virus" on the phone, I would assume that it would not go away by resetting and restoring the phone. I guess restoring from backup would bring back the infested file, or am I wrong? Perhaps I should still try.

Does anyone know if there is a way to monitor the overall traffic on iPhone, like Little Snitch on mac, for example?

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Answer 9

kramey74

Level 1

105 points

May 10, 2010 5:42 AM in response to jhv

If you have data roaming turned off and you are abroad you have turned off messaging. This is basically like putting your phone in airplane mode so that no data is transmitted.

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Answer 10

jhv Author

Level 1

15 points

May 14, 2010 9:41 PM in response to kramey74

Actually, as Lawrence explained above, SMS doesn't need data transmission nor internet connection. SMS works fine when data roaming and wifi are off. Problem still unsolved...

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