My iPhone 13 Pro Max is being hacked

I think you should rephrase your question because people assign different meaning to words. It seems as if many people think that the word "hacked" means a human being is actively typing on a remote terminal using SSH to send commands to another device. This is problematic because the average person has never even heard the word SSH before and is unfamiliar with the manner in which something like being "hacked" might occur.

OP, have you ever heard of that term, or are you very familiar with similar types of programs and how they are used or other concepts of network security?

It's ok if you are and ok if you aren't. Most people aren't tbh and there's a lot going on behind the scenes that they don't care to know about because it's very technical and probably boring to most people.

I believe you if you are encountering odd behavior and it's certainly possible that someone has accessed your device without your authorization. No one should have declared that "unless you jailbroke your phone it has not been hacked" especially so authoritatively. If you are the victim of some sort of invasion of privacy or other malicious activity it doesn't mean that you did anything wrong like jailbreaking your iPhone either.

You should always approach these types of situations calmly and focus on facts, including what you know to have witnessed.

Has anyone that may have an interest in monitoring your activity had physical access to your phone even for just a few minutes? This type of thing occurs sometimes in abusive relationships. Although exploitation of any device is not dependent on physical access it does make it much easier and indicate a much more serious situation.

What exactly are the issues you are encountering?

That is an interesting opinion but it’s not accurate sadly! :(

Apple addresses known issues with every update. iOS 16 for example was no different and Apple referred to several issues that were resolved that do in fact pertain to someone being able to access an iPhone remotely.

About the security content of iOS 16 - Apple Support

If you look at the full information avaIlable on US government run websites for each “CVE-ID” you will find that your statements are mistaken.

The full documentation shows that not only does a user not have to engage with anything but that they also can be performed remotely. It’s important not to blame people who are victim to such things or call the perpetrator a “criminal” as if the only context is financial therefore it should be obvious to everyone and simple to avoid.

Goodoooo wrote:

know i have to disagree with you. i have my phone on lockdown mode. Still experiencing issues, i am being a victim of cyber bully.

Which would have nothing to do with being "hacked".

Your phone has not been hacked. Nothing you have posted even hints at it having been 'hacked'.

I seen your frantic post and feel I have to reply and give whatever assistance I can because I too have experienced exactly what you are describing, and it can be very emotionally draining - hence the breakdown and anxiety.

I do not believe that the costs to achieve what you described is anywhere close to the amounts mentioned. Without going into details, just know there is a definite possibility that you are being targeted for the sole purpose of driving you crazy. Don’t let it happen. Don’t use your phone for anything you wouldn’t want to be public. Whenever not using your camera, place tape over it and always assume the microphone is being used so anything said within its vicinity can be recorded.

im not a journalist in an oppressive state, not a criminal mastermind - just an unlucky person that once had a decent career in IT that was basically ruined because of this. I eventually reverted to providing tech phone support from home (way under my technical level, but better than warehouse work).

So I’ve got the work from home job for a while and the company’s IT dept had to tighten security for a contract they worked out with a large nationwide ISP - and the techs needed access to the internal network that held customer info, credit card numbers, system status and configuration data along with much more that could cripple their infrastructures . They required all home techs go thru what’s basically a security audit at the start of each shift, and create separate work accounts that were administered via remote policy. This was 10 years ago and the terms have changed along with the process, but basically device management via a remote system.

I could not for the life of me get my computer to complete the initial setup and security check, even with a complete format/reinstall.

Eventually, after several days working with their internal tech team and allowing them remote access; the initial steps completed and I began working with my team without incident for a few weeks. Then, without cause, my start of shift security check failed and I would have another several hours at minimum, usually longer before I could get into the system.

This did not initially raise any concerns from me because I used the PC for other than work stuff- gaming, browsing, etc. I was eventually let go because I had this issue at least once a month, usually more.

Afterwards I began to notice odd behavior from my phone as well and that got me looking into my router configuration and I realized it too had some very strange things happening. I used Android smartphones since they were first released, PCs for 30+ years and had used that same router for at least 3 years, and I routinely mucked around the configuration interfaces and settings of all and knew what I should be seeing.

Even at this point, I wasn’t worried, I just figured a remote attacker had gained access to my system. Flashed/reset everything and went on with life. If my firewall was secure, I felt I had no reason to worry.

This all began 10 years ago as I said earlier, I went another 7 years trying to dismiss events with rational explanations until 2020 when things happened that I couldn’t ignore. No details here, just know you’re not insane, you have people that are able to gain access to anything you do - however I do not believe the motives are motivated by stealing money from accounts or draining your 401K. I have had lots stolen from me, but it has always been unnoticed and untraceable.

best advice I could give is the items I mentioned above and to be very conscious of the people who are closest to you. Don’t confront, listen.

I would like to communicate directly with you about your situation, I’m not sure of how in a public forum- but keep returning to the post and I’ll find out more.

best of luck to you, don’t let things get you so worked up and upset, it does nothing to resolve things and only hurts you.

later man

___Bubba___ wrote:

As for iPhone, a factory reset erases everything, then re-downloads iOS from Apple's servers. It's why you need an Internet connection to factory reset (or a computer with the same).

Sounds true enough on the surface, but think about it.. If a factory reset really wiped an iPhone of all data saved on it, how would it know after being wiped clean that it was an iPhone and more importantly that it needed to download the new data from Apple's servers? What's to prevent malware that has root-level access from infecting the various data stores like firmware that must survive a factory reset?

How is the process you described any different than what an Android device does?

What does costs have anything to do with “hacking” into someone’s account or getting ahold of credentials. Credential Stuffing is something that is pretty much free. Any software operating system can be hacked into, no matter how secure the system is. That’s why there are software updates all the time. Even if you update, there are always going to be new vulnerabilities that not very pleasant people will find, therefore there are always going to be new updates, it’s just a vicious cycle. These new software updates are intended for those who have not jailbroken their phones. Well assumed per say. Therefore jailbreaking your phone is not the only way a person can take over you phone. Also even if you’re not someone considered as a person of interest by the government, doesn’t mean that you’re safe and sound. Like I mentioned there are not so pleasant people out there that just do not respect something called personal privacy or personal property, no matter who you are.

Look up Credential Stuffing on Wikipedia, read the info about that subject. Then they have information on that same page about Data Breaches. There’s a lot of evidence that LatriciaP’s statement is true. They have a whole list of how millions of people’s info and sign in credentials are leaked out there because of poor security measures that have not been taken care of by a lot of big name industries and companies. They even mention a journalist for Wired.com and how his info was leaked because of a “hack” breach. His entire Apple Account was wiped clean because they were able to get into his account. Another incident was when photos of celebrities were leaked on the web because their iCloud accounts were breached. But that was before Apple instated the 2FA that is used today. All my info has been leaked out there because there are a lot of people who will “hack,” into companies systems. If they want something they will do anything to get it. I had to change and delete a lot of my email accounts. A lot of personal information, and I had to do this so many times. I have mentioned it so many times before, any software operating system can be “hacked” into taken over. They will always have vulnerabilities and the people that do not care about your personal privacy and property will always try to find these vulnerabilities. This is why a lot of major software companies and even Apple hire bounties, or in cyber slang I guess you can call it they are “White Hackers.” Their job is to find vulnerabilities before the “bad hackers” do.

I hope they don’t take this down.

I do not understand why people do not believe this actually happens.

What Lawrence Finch wrote- iPhones are very secure and cannot be hacked without expensive costs and prodigious overheads. What exactly makes you think you're being hacked?

Ok then. Well free to have your own opinion of things!

Id be glad to listen to whatever you have to say. I’m not here to prove you wrong or right. I only object to dismissing someone’s beliefs and experiences without first listening to them.