I received a Pop-up message that said my passwords on my iPhone has been compromised and to change them immediately? How do I know this isn’t a scam

I got the same message on my phone and when I looked at Settings - Passwords - Security Settings it said to change 124 passwords. I haven't even used some of the accounts in years. How do I know if this is a scam if it is also in my settings and how do I get rid of it if it is a scam?

Yes, I received what looked like a message out of the operating system saying there had been a data breach and listing multiple passwords that I needed to change right away. The message has appeared twice, once on my iMac and once on my iPad Air 4. I am concerned because it showed almost every password I have stored, the site and the actual password

Thanks HFatWs22 and you are correct.. After seeing and clicking on the yellow triangles on my security - password setting, I called Apple Care yesterday and was told that these are cautions that inform you that you have used the same or similar passwords too often that could put me at risk. The man was very nice and said that he had the same on his phone/computer and he doesn't change them and that I shouldn't worry too much about changing all of them. He said that when I had time I might want to change some of the more important ones like banks, credit cards, etc, however I wasn't in any danger if I didn't as Apple was pretty secure. I too had accounts that I hadn't used in years and had forgotten about. He wasn't familiar with the alert or why I got the it or if it was from Apple. I didn't have much info to give him when he asked if it said it was from Apple or Google because it was gone and I couldn't remember the details, nor could I find it again.

OK. I think I figured out with a few more searches. It is actually Safari making the notifications and all your passwords stored in Safari plus your Keychain. You can open Safari and go to the Password section of settings and get a look at everything stored there. Years of history I stopped using but still parked on my trusty Apple devices that are younger than my last visit to some of those sites. Click on the yellow triangle to the right of each and see if it’s a caution about duplication or a for real data leak, as in the case of MY BANK!!!

cheers.

What if Settings recommended I change most of my passwords? That's a huge job.

If the message provides a link for you to follow to log into your Apple account (or any other account) then it is definitely a scam designed to steal your login details. You can change any passwords whenever you want. Go to Settings-Passwords and check any security recommendations from Apple.

googling the exact wording of the popup usually revealed a tons of hits telling you of it's a scam

if you did not follow a link in the popup to a page that might have sort of looked like an official apple page

and provided it with your appleID and password you should be pretty safe

but it's always a good idea to enable Manage two-factor authentication from iPhone - Apple Support

This is VERY helpful, tells what I wanted to know. Thanks!

There are several different types of password insecurity:

• Weak passwords
• Reused passwords
• Passwords found in data breaches.

The only ones that should be of real concern are the last ones; those are passwords that are in the hands of criminals, and can be used to access whatever accounts you use them for. You can make your own judgements about the weak and reused passwords, although you should not reuse passwords for important sites like banks and credit card issuers.

And you should never click a link in any popup. Apple and your iPhone will not put links in legitimate system messages.

This remedy contradicts the first one???

You are very welcome and glad I could help.