My iPhone may be hacked

EugeneAskWhy wrote:

I don't think I am getting iCloud+ cause I have Microsoft 365 which set me back lots of cash, but hey it has 1TB of OneDrive cloud backup storage.

Then just sync your photos to OneDrive. I’m pretty sure the OneDrive app can do that automatically.

But thanks for your suggestion, I am still trying to figure out how it happened.

Don’t discount the possibility of cosmic rays. Seriously→https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray#Effect_on_electronics

That vulnerability was fixed in 16.1, and it would have required that you download an audio file from an untrustworthy source. And it also only made it possible to copy data from the phone, not update anything on the phone such as a passcode. So it is very unlikely that is the cause of your issue.

May I suggest turning on automatic iCloud backups, and that you sync photos to iCloud so you will never be in danger of losing more than 1 days content?

EugeneAskWhy wrote:

My iPhone 12 Pro may have been exploited by the CVE-2022-42798 vulnerability,

How do you know this? Is your data worth between five and twenty-five thousand dollars to access?

Luckily I have backed up a week and a half earlier. But sadly I am going to lose a week and a half worth of pictures and data.

Why are you not backing up every night? If you have iCloud backup enabled and, every night put your phone on charge, connect it to WiFi and lock the screen, it will back up. That way, you'll never lose more than a day's data.

Can someone tell me is this vulnerability allows hackers to exploit my iPhone and change the passcode to my iPhone. I discovered this when I was trying to update my iPhone from iOS 16.0.1 to iOS 16.1.1 ( The iOS fix for the vulnerability )

The iOS fix was actually iOS 16.1. The vulnerability affected memory handling and could disclose data. It would not have allowed someone to change your password. That can't be done remotely.

EugeneAskWhy wrote:

. For the iCloud, I have iCloud base plan, the 5GB one, it's has filled to the brim.

Send the .99/ month to get more space. It's a bargain if you value your data.

Also this vulnerability able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. To me, it sounds like the iOS and security could be at risk and be remotely hacked,

You are incorrect.

as I think the passcode is stored in the phone's internal kernel software. Hacker could decrypt the security kernel and gain access to the the passcode.

Not to be rude but no, you don't really know what you're talking about. And no, the password cannot be changed remotely.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Well, you could expand your iCloud capacity to 50GB for 99¢ a month, so that would be a logical thing to do unless your photos are worth less to you than $12 a year.

We seem to be following each other about today with similar answers. Always makes me feel confident when you say the same thing!

Well, you could expand your iCloud capacity to 50GB for 99¢ a month, so that would be a logical thing to do unless your photos are worth less to you than $12 a year.

In the immortal words of Douglas Adams: "Don't panic".