iphone hacked, pictures altered and camera being accessed when phone is idle or sleeping

Champion8802 wrote:

Thanks Mr Hoffman for responding, however I am militant with passwords etc. But how do you explain the camera being accessed when all passwords have been changed (including Apple ID, apps, email etc), the latest iOS downloaded and all privacy settings changed to eliminate camera and microphone access. Thanks again for taking the time

I’m not in a position to perform forensics nor perform a personalized security review in a forum text box.

That review would include a two-factor check, backups checks, password manager usage checks, a review of the Apple personalized security recommendations, the particular apps involved with the reported camera and microphone access, and other details and not the least of which would be some consideration of your specific risk and of the most likely threats. There’ll be other checks necessarily involving direct device access, too.

Read and follow the preciously-posted security and privacy link. If you’re specifically likely to be a target, or believe you are a target get direct help. (Differentiating those folks that have other issues or threats from those that have technical security threats from folks using advanced tooling is part of this whole process, and that too is difficult in a text box.)

And as per your original report, if this hasn’t been identified and resolved in two years and likely with previous discussions, it seems whatever is arising over that timeframe is unlikely to be resolved here today.

Usual cause of this is compromised passwords. Whether that’s re-used passwords, easily-guessed, or passwords otherwise exposed?

Apple ID accounts lacking two-factor can also be more easily exposed to credentials phishing.

Apple has available security recommendations in Settings > Passwords, too.

Here is some reading to help you learn more about security and privacy: https://help.apple.com/pdf/personal-safety/en_US/personal-safety-user-guide.pdf

One of the very few ways to indicate your data is valuable is with backups. Otherwise, you’re one corruption, one compromise, one mistake, one dunking, or one theft away from data loss. Backups are a key part of security, too.

Malware does exist for iPhone, though it tends to be rare and targeted. Compromised passwords, phishing, lack of two-factor authentication and related are more common issues for folks, however.

By hack, if you mean remotely controlling your device, then...

Keep the iPhone updated to the latest iOS always and never Jailbreak. That's it.

iOS / iPadOS devices cannot be hacked or infected with Virus / Malware / Spyware if it is updated to the latest iOS/iPadOS unless you have intentionally downloaded spurious software or unauthorized apps directly from the internet and installed them on your device or/and have Jailbroken. 

It (Hacking) also depends on how careful are you in sharing sensitive and valuable information pertaining to your iPhone such as Passcode, Password, etc with your friends and family members.

Be careful when sharing the device's sensitive and valuable information with friends and family members.

Thumb Rules:

1. Enable  Guided Access before handing over an iPhone to kids
2. Don't share Apple IDs
3. Don't Jailbreak
4. Don't share sensitive information pertaining to your device and payment methods
5. Beware of Phishing