You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
I touched a link in a post in Quora that was supposed to go to an article, but instead it went to a website with an URL that contained seemingly random letters, then quickly to another one and another one. Then a box appeared that said the iPad was infected. I did not touch the link in the box that said close but instead closed the tab (in Safari). How can I find and remove the infection, if there is one?
iPad Air, 12
As explained by Lobsterghost1, provided you have not responded to any prompts for information - or clicked on any associated links - you are unlikely to have any persistent issues or malware infection.
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. For older devices, no longer benefiting from regular security updates, the risk of an unpatched vulnerability being exploited substantially increases.
For devices that continue to receive system software updates, Apple commit considerable resources in developing and issuing regular software security updates and patches for its products.
There are steps that you can take to significantly reduce recurrence of an attempted exploit… such as that you have encountered.
The majority of threats to which you will be invariably exposed will surface via web pages or embedded links within email. These browser-based attacks can largely be mitigated by installing a good 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 from 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. 1Blocker has also recently introduced its new “Firewall” functions - that are explicitly designed to block “trackers”. Being implemented at the network-layer, this additional protection works across all Apps. Recent updates to 1Blocker has introduced additional network extensions, extending protection to other Apps.
A further measure to improve protection is to use a security focussed DNS Service in preference to automatic DNS settings. This can either be set on a per-device basis in Settings, or can be set-up on your home Router - and in so doing extends the benefit of this specific protection to other devices on your local network. I recommend using one of the following DNS 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, or other Content Blocker provides defense in depth.
There are advanced techniques to further “harden” iOS/iPadOS (such as using DoH, DoT and DNSSEC). For iPadOS15, Apple has recently introduced its new Private Relay to its iCloud+ subscribers - in part employing DoH as an element of this new functionality.
I hope this information and insight proves to be helpful to you.
As explained by Lobsterghost1, provided you have not responded to any prompts for information - or clicked on any associated links - you are unlikely to have any persistent issues or malware infection.
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. For older devices, no longer benefiting from regular security updates, the risk of an unpatched vulnerability being exploited substantially increases.
For devices that continue to receive system software updates, Apple commit considerable resources in developing and issuing regular software security updates and patches for its products.
There are steps that you can take to significantly reduce recurrence of an attempted exploit… such as that you have encountered.
The majority of threats to which you will be invariably exposed will surface via web pages or embedded links within email. These browser-based attacks can largely be mitigated by installing a good 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 from 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. 1Blocker has also recently introduced its new “Firewall” functions - that are explicitly designed to block “trackers”. Being implemented at the network-layer, this additional protection works across all Apps. Recent updates to 1Blocker has introduced additional network extensions, extending protection to other Apps.
A further measure to improve protection is to use a security focussed DNS Service in preference to automatic DNS settings. This can either be set on a per-device basis in Settings, or can be set-up on your home Router - and in so doing extends the benefit of this specific protection to other devices on your local network. I recommend using one of the following DNS 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, or other Content Blocker provides defense in depth.
There are advanced techniques to further “harden” iOS/iPadOS (such as using DoH, DoT and DNSSEC). For iPadOS15, Apple has recently introduced its new Private Relay to its iCloud+ subscribers - in part employing DoH as an element of this new functionality.
I hope this information and insight proves to be helpful to you.
Unless you have jailbroken your iPad, there are no viruses you can get. And as long as you didn't enter any personal information in any link you are not infected. Simply close the pages completely. This is the beauty of Apple's sandboxed iOS systems.
Scanning iPad for malware
