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So ive heard about this device that phones are exploited to. This device that could hack your phone just by sending a message. I know apple did an security update for this but im just curious. Could this happen only when they send a SMS or also when they send a message on whatsapp and other communication apps aswell and how would we know if it happened to us?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 12 Pro Max
No. A message (or email) is just that. Text. It doesn't matter what it says about being hacked, xxx number of viruses have been detected, or whatever else. It's a lie.
No different than some random person walking up to you and saying they have access to all of your data. But, hey! If you give me $500 right now, I'll leave you alone. Just like such a bogus text or mail, they have nothing. The idea is to scare you into believing it.
Even if you tap/click on a link that takes you to a scam web site, there's still nothing that can happen until the user makes the very boneheaded mistake of filling in the personal information the site is asking for, downloading and installing some sort of software it says you need, or calling a scam phone number.
Here's the main point. If a crook really already had access to your data, why, on any planet in the universe, would they tell you that? The answer is, they wouldn't. They would be busy emptying your bank accounts before you noticed it.
No. A message (or email) is just that. Text. It doesn't matter what it says about being hacked, xxx number of viruses have been detected, or whatever else. It's a lie.
No different than some random person walking up to you and saying they have access to all of your data. But, hey! If you give me $500 right now, I'll leave you alone. Just like such a bogus text or mail, they have nothing. The idea is to scare you into believing it.
Even if you tap/click on a link that takes you to a scam web site, there's still nothing that can happen until the user makes the very boneheaded mistake of filling in the personal information the site is asking for, downloading and installing some sort of software it says you need, or calling a scam phone number.
Here's the main point. If a crook really already had access to your data, why, on any planet in the universe, would they tell you that? The answer is, they wouldn't. They would be busy emptying your bank accounts before you noticed it.
If you feel an unauthorized person/app is remotely using, controlling or monitoring your device, then that is possible only if you have done one or more of the following Don'ts...
If one of the above is true then quickly change the Apple ID Password and Return iPhone settings to their defaults.
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 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 you are in sharing sensitive and valuable information pertaining to your iPhone such as Passcode, Password, etc with your friends and family members.
Be judicious when sharing the device's sensitive and valuable information with friends and family members.
If you don't reckon what is said above is true then you have two options...
There were such exploits where just opening a message that was built a very specific way would allow access to your device. Restarting the device would clear it.
But, these two or three such issues happened at least 8 years ago. There has been no such reported bug since then.
The recent issue was the NSO Group released another exploit called Blastpass.
As with their previous tool, Pegasus, nothing can happen unless someone decides to purchase the tool so they can use it against specific targets. Pegasus cost $500,000 to set up, and $560,000 more to access 16 devices. A good description for that was;
If you're a regular person, it's unlikely your phone is infected with Pegasus spyware, because each Pegasus license is prohibitively expensive. But if you're a high-profile target such as a politician, well-known journalist, or political activist, there's a chance that Pegasus is tracking you.
The same is very likely true for Blastpass. It will cost a fortune, and unless you're worth that much money to the user who pays for it, you'll never have to worry. Not even a little.
That, and it's one of the things the most recent macOS and iOS updates patched.
No, it wasn't. Stop believing such nonsense.
A message is just a message. All anyone needs to send you one is your phone number or email address. And scammers have very long lists of these to send the same message out to thousands, or millions of users. Then they sit back and wait to see who falls for it.
I see thank you. I would like to ask one more question as i asked previously. Can that happen just from receiving a SMS or from apps like whatsapp too?
Thank you for your answer. I was wondering because i was on Line App which is like whatsapp but some people use it for some games. I had stopped using it for a while but i still had it on my phone. There was a recent update and when i randomly opened it i saw that i was in a group chat that i dont remember joining and i clicked it and there was just a message about the update. Im worried because i dont remember ever joining that groupchat and wondered if that hack that could also happen just by clicking on a message you received on these apps aswell.
But ive heard about it happening recently i think something called phone zero or something and also saw people that said apple has alarmed iphone users to update the new software update cuz of it.
I see. Thank you for you help!
You're welcome.
I think my messages was hacked by this means yesterday.
Could my iPhone be hacked by just sending a message?
