My iPad screen went totally grey with notification from Apple that I had a virus

Hello lise244,

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. Apple will never alert you that your iPad has a virus. Therefore, this message is an advertisement that is being displayed on the iPad. This type of advertisement should not be taken seriously as it's designed to mislead you and potentially steal your personal information.

The steps to resolve the advertisement issue are to open up your Settings Application. Once in Settings scroll down to tap on Safari. Then select "Clear History and Website Data". This will delete the data from the website that caused the advertisement.

If you want further education on recognizing advertisement malware please visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204759

Due to the system architecture of iOS/iPadOS, unless jailbroken, your iPad is not susceptible to traditional malware infection per-se. However, as with all computer systems, there are still vulnerabilities and exploits to which you remain vulnerable.

Browser-based attacks can largely be mitigated by installing a good, trusted, Content and Ad-blocking product. One of the very best and most respected within the Apple App Store - designed for iPad, iPhone and Mac - is 1Blocker for Safari.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/1blocker-for-safari/id1365531024

1Blocker is highly configurable - and crucially does not rely upon an external proxy-service of dubious provenance. All processing takes place on your device - and contrary to expectations, Safari will run faster and more efficiently.

Unwanted content is not simply filtered after download (a technique used by basic/inferior products), but instead undesirable embedded content blocked form download. A further benefit on metered services, such as cellular connections where you data may be capped or chargeable, this not only improves speed but also saves you money.

When using a good content blocker product, a high proportion of otherwise inescapable risk when using your Safari browser, or linking to external sources from email, is effectively mitigated before it even reaches you.

A further measure to improve protection is to use a trusted Recursive DNS Service in preference to automatic settings. This can either be set on a per-device basis in Settings, or can be set-up on your home Router. I strongly recommend using one of the following services - for which IPv4 and IPv6 server addresses are listed:

Quad9 (recommended)

9.9.9.9

149.112.112.112

2620:fe::fe

2620:fe::9

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

2620:0:ccc::2

2620:0:ccd::2

Cloudflare+APNIC

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

Use of the above DNS services will help to shield you from “known bad” websites and URLs - and when used alongside 1Blocker, provides defense in depth.

I hope this information proves to be helpful.