Been hacked. The notice comes from errolandtessa. What do I do?
I clicked on a photo of a qr code I scanned for instructions to use products on my new iphone. The message came up immediately, tells me all operations are being tracked. Below is a familiar white strip saying to open the link in the app store, which I've not done.
Now what?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 14, iOS 17
Restart your phone. As long as you have not jailbroken your phone, it cannot be hacked. There is no iPhone message from Apple that will come up saying all of your operations are being tracked and it would make no sense for a hacker to announce that they are tracking you unless they want money or personal account information from you. If the QR code opened up a website, you can just navigate to a different site.
As long as you did not give them your Apple ID/Password, there is nothing else you need to do.
Restart your phone. As long as you have not jailbroken your phone, it cannot be hacked. There is no iPhone message from Apple that will come up saying all of your operations are being tracked and it would make no sense for a hacker to announce that they are tracking you unless they want money or personal account information from you. If the QR code opened up a website, you can just navigate to a different site.
As long as you did not give them your Apple ID/Password, there is nothing else you need to do.
Hate to tell you this, but you are being paranoid.
A message is just a message. It can say anything. If I knew your email address or phone number, I could send you a message that I know for a fact you're going to be fired from your job in three days.
Does simply saying something I made up on the spot make it true? The answer is, of course not! The messages saying your phone as been hacked are no different. It's a lie. PERIOD!!!! Stop believing them.
It's a scam. There is no malware on your device, unless you jailbroken it, but you will download harmful apps if you follow the link and download the app.
Just to investigate that post.
Ask them if there is a way to ensure the boot sector is not corrupt…
There's no such thing as a boot sector on an iPad. Here's the startup sequence. This is all cryptographically secured. A third party app cannot alter this data.
and ask them to master reset
There is no master reset Apple needs to do, or is some sort of special action. You can do it yourself at any time. Go to:
Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset.
MITMd
Man In the Middle attacks are possible, but extremely rare. A jailbroken iPhone or iPad is a great way to go in that direction as you can then install apps from anywhere, not just the App Store.
Bige1326 wrote:
I’m dealing with the same exact situation and I never know how to explain it. Please reach out if you figure out a way bypass whatever this is.
How to bypass what? If you're getting a notice that your phone has been hacked, just dismiss it. It's a scam.
It's extremely unlikely your phone has been hacked. Read the topic you posted to.
"Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave your iPhone 40 hacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave your Android 41"
If your iPhone has been hacked in this way, there is not much you can do, other than to sweep up the pieces and to call the police. If you mean that you saw a message claiming that your iPhone was hacked - in the computing sense of the word – that was likely a scam, presented by criminals.
FTC – How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Tech Support Scams
If you are worried about apps tracking you – and, let's face it, a lot of developers of social media apps and store loyalty apps want to track you, mine data about you, or spam you with ads in some way or another – then delete apps you don't trust. Or take advantage of iOS's ability to restrict their access to things like your microphone, your camera, and your location.
About privacy and Location Services in iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS - Apple Support
What that screenshot is showing there is not true. It's a con to try extract your personal details so that people can rob you.
Hacked is a term that some users make when they claim that a third party has remote access to your device to observe and make changes. This is not possible with the iPhone. What can happen is that people will inadvertently give out their Apple ID/Password through a phishing email/message. Any user with that information can do things like delete pictures from your iCloud or even change your password. Some people believe that their device is hacked because of this and that is not the case. Your account may be compromised because of this action, but it is in now way a case that your device is hacked.
Kurt Lang wrote:
Apache is on your phone because it's supposed to be there. It's part of every OS Apple writes - iOS, iPadOS, macOS. The MIT license is also normal.
What isn't normal is you shouldn't even be able to see these items. You must have jailbroken your phone to do that and have now left it wide open to all kinds of malware.
There may be some legal requirement for Apple to display the licenses if they want the benefit of using the code. In which case they might have buried the text deep within some menu item that displays other legalese. Whether third parties charge for the use of their code, or not, they're often "funny" about wanting their copyright notice or license to be displayed!
Sure enough, on my iPhone, running iOS 16.7.1, Settings > General > Legal & Regulatory > Legal Notices shows a very long list of third-party copyright notices, and a few third-party licenses, including the MIT license.
I can assure you that my iPhone is not jailbroken or hacked.
The presence of that MIT license proves only that Apple wanted to use some piece of code that falls under it, not that there is anything sinister going on, or that an iPhone is "hacked."
hein216 wrote:
My iPhone 10 has been hacked is there a way to unhack it?
No, because it has NOT been hacked.
Incredible. There are four sane responses from very experienced and long standing forum members in this topic, and you latch on to the conspiracy theory gobbledygook response.
Apache is on your phone because it's supposed to be there. It's part of every OS Apple writes - iOS, iPadOS, macOS. The MIT license is also normal.
What isn't normal is you shouldn't even be able to see these items. You must have jailbroken your phone to do that and have now left it wide open to all kinds of malware.
shelbiladwig wrote:
What can u do if ur iPhone has been hacked
What are you seeing that makes you think your phone has been hacked? It's very unlikely that your phone has been hacked. However, that doesn't mean you aren't having a problem. If you explain what those problems are, people might be able to help you resolve that.
All these posts about "hacked" iPhones. Firstly why would anyone want to "hack" your phone??? What would they gain?
Unfortunately what you neglect to consider in your accurate, rational and considered response is the irrational factor: those jilted lovers or even the psychiatrically unwell who want to coercivally control and stalk other people. And while these folks might not be expert hackers or whatever, they often are quite good at wrangling passwords out of their victims. So it's not money or state secrets that are in question but the safety of people at risk from more mundane - and far more common - abuses.
So yes, their phones are not hacked. But their passwords might be compromised and people who do not wish them well may be stalking them with who knows what in mind. That's far more dangerous than accessing cat photos and Bob's phone number. Important to bear that in mind.
Troubletaker88 wrote:
I beg to differ I am on my eight iPhone, three brand new 13s and five iPhone 15 Pro maxes three ultra watch twos and 26 iCloud accounts as well as 14 phone numbers since March 13 24 and it is now September 20 of 24 and I assure you I have reset re-send hundreds of passcode passwords into Apple every week to do a factory reset averaging 8 to 10 hours a day fighting my phone oh and two androids all hacked by my soon to be ex-husband! It is absolutely possible for an iPhone to be hacks
After even two or three iterations of replacement devices and of multiple new Apple Accounts, I would have thought the futility of that approach would have become clear. Twenty-six is an investment in time and effort, too. And would have become particularly expensive.
You’re either an immensely valuable target for folks with access to espionage tooling or such, or there’s something else going on. Whether that other option might involve password compromises from video or other techniques, or control of password reset paths, or otherwise?
I would have also thought that repeating requests for assistance (and inevitably getting similar or the same suggestions as replies) would have been clearly become problematic, too. You’re just not going to get new or different suggestions here, not after having gone through compromises to twenty-six Apple Accounts.
You’re likely going to need direct and local assistance with your security (or with whatever else is happening here if not a breach), assistance from those familiar with these sorts of cases in your area, with other providers for other potential non-IT-related issues, and potentially also legal advice given the unauthorized alleged access here may be considered a crime in various legal jurisdictions.
Some potentially-useful abuse- and stalking-related resources:
But getting new or different security suggestions around here? Or advice about non-IT issues that can arise with some of these reports? Not so likely.
My iPhone has been hacked, what to do?
