I have been getting what I believe to be spam that I’m infected with 28 viruses. These messages started couple months back but they seem more serious and it fills all my emails up fast. I’m worried that something is going on with it. I don’t even know how to run all the things with anti virus protection. Thank you maw vic
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 6s, iOS 13
Mawvic wrote:
I have been getting what I believe to be spam that I’m infected with 28 viruses. These messages started couple months back but they seem more serious and it fills all my emails up fast. I’m worried that something is going on with it. I don’t even know how to run all the things with anti virus protection. Thank you maw vic
It’s advertising. Given you’re even considering it, and are reading the spam, and are seemingly on the edge of believing it, it’s very clearly advertising that’s working, too.
Mark it as spam, and move on.
Update your iPhone 6s to iOS 15, too. That’s the most current version for iPhone ts.
How to tell if it’s advertising? Best assume anything you read containing words like “hacker”, “hacked”, “virus” and “trojan” is an advertisement, or is entertainment. Yes, that stuff exists. Best to assume a website that claims to “scan” is lying too. If a website could “scan”, it’d just upload all your data, as scans are deeply intrusive. But viruses and such are not what most of us are getting hit with, particularly on iPhone. Most folks get phishing, or get scammed, or bombarded with advertisements for sketchy apps, or they don’t update their gear and that exposes them. Or they get convinced to load some problematic app because after all, who would expect one of the better-known Mac anti-malware apps was actually reselling its users’ personally-identified web browsing and web purchasing habits. (Which actually happened, BTW. The vendor recently received what I’d consider a pittance of a fine for that, too.)
Some of the scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support
Some reading: Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community
And to be absolutely clear, there is malware for iPhone. Malware which does not require jailbreaking. So far, it’s been rare, and very much targeted. Investigative journalists, political dissidents, senior members of private entities or of government, those with access to sensitive or classified data, with access to great financial wealth, or that have deeply peeved somebody or some entity with immense wealth. The rest of us, not so much.
Mawvic wrote:
I have been getting what I believe to be spam that I’m infected with 28 viruses. These messages started couple months back but they seem more serious and it fills all my emails up fast. I’m worried that something is going on with it. I don’t even know how to run all the things with anti virus protection. Thank you maw vic
It’s advertising. Given you’re even considering it, and are reading the spam, and are seemingly on the edge of believing it, it’s very clearly advertising that’s working, too.
Mark it as spam, and move on.
Update your iPhone 6s to iOS 15, too. That’s the most current version for iPhone ts.
How to tell if it’s advertising? Best assume anything you read containing words like “hacker”, “hacked”, “virus” and “trojan” is an advertisement, or is entertainment. Yes, that stuff exists. Best to assume a website that claims to “scan” is lying too. If a website could “scan”, it’d just upload all your data, as scans are deeply intrusive. But viruses and such are not what most of us are getting hit with, particularly on iPhone. Most folks get phishing, or get scammed, or bombarded with advertisements for sketchy apps, or they don’t update their gear and that exposes them. Or they get convinced to load some problematic app because after all, who would expect one of the better-known Mac anti-malware apps was actually reselling its users’ personally-identified web browsing and web purchasing habits. (Which actually happened, BTW. The vendor recently received what I’d consider a pittance of a fine for that, too.)
Some of the scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support
Some reading: Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community
And to be absolutely clear, there is malware for iPhone. Malware which does not require jailbreaking. So far, it’s been rare, and very much targeted. Investigative journalists, political dissidents, senior members of private entities or of government, those with access to sensitive or classified data, with access to great financial wealth, or that have deeply peeved somebody or some entity with immense wealth. The rest of us, not so much.
It is spam. Ignore it.
No matter how advanced the virus/malware/spyware might be, it can't infiltrate iOS/iPadOS devices due to their robust security measures.
iOS / iPadOS devices cannot be infected** with Viruses / 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.
**The primary reason for this is Sandboxing. All third-party apps are “sandboxed”, so they are restricted from accessing files stored by other apps or from making changes to the device. Sandboxing is designed to prevent apps from gathering or modifying information stored by other apps.
Security of runtime process in iOS and iPadOS - Apple Support
The sandbox on an iPhone is a security feature that creates a restricted environment for each app to run in isolation from other apps and the operating system. It is a core component of iOS's security architecture and plays a crucial role in making iPhones more secure.
I keep getting messages that my iPhone is infected with viruses
