Where could a Windows malware hide on Iphone?

And again, malware written for Windows cannot, repeat cannot, infect an iPhone. The technologies are completely different, so any code, legitimate or malware, that is written only for Windows will be harmless on your iPhone even if it was downloaded. Any such download would, as Niel said, be in the Downloads folder unless your iPhone is jailbroken in which case all matter of bad things could happen.

Regards.

Oblivion99 wrote:

Dear all

Im aware / firmly believe, that an Iphone can't get malware.

In theory, it could happen. In practice, it has not happened yet, and it can’t happen on a device that has not been jailbroken.

But if somehow a Windows malware (just the data) from the internet transfered to the Iphone, then where could it hide?

Download folder?

History and website data?

Other places?

Thank you

Windows malware can not affect an iPhone. As for where it could hide… that depends on where you saved it…

Don’t stress over things that almost certainly are not going to happen.

Your premises are incorrect.

iPhone can get malware.

What is available is rare and targeted (and very expensive) based on available information, but malware does exist.

Windows-targeting malware would usually have to be file-based to reside on and transit an iPhone, and would not be effective or even active.

My best educated guess: you’ll want to review some malware- and forensics-related training, and related information security materials.

I would encourage more generally reviewing your particulars threats and risks too, rather than discussing theoretical transmission routes.

Cross-platform malware is somewhere between exceedingly rare, and non-existent. This as malware is tied to features of or flaws of some particular platform or implementation. Some family of routers, or network-connected printers, or flaws in specific (and usually common) platforms such as Windows. Different malware for different platforms.

Phishing and related social engineering shenanigans are far more common threats for most of us, among other “simpler” (but effective) and more ubiquitous exploit efforts.

Maybe as a foundation, materials such as: https://www.opencompsci.com/books/information-security

The Downloads folder.

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Oblivion99 wrote:

Not-jailbroken Iphone, fully updated Iphone.

Somehow via the internet, Windows malware gets transfered to the Iphone, just the data of the malware.

A laptop with Windows OS uses the Iphones internet-sharing.

it is impossible for the laptop with Windows, to get the Windows malware from the Iphone, by using the Iphones iternet-sharing?

Thank you

Only if it was a full malware installer that you downloaded somehow on your iPhone, transferred it to your PC by some method, and then somehow was tricked into installing it there. Unlikely but not impossible. As Niel said, you always need to have strong malware protection on your Windows system.

Regards.

Oblivion99 wrote:

Does Iphone have any kind of firewall, like a router?

That would protect the Windows laptop using the Iphones internet sharing?

Thank you

I’d suggest finding information security training materials or classes, and learning about how the pieces fit together.

This for various reasons.

• Because an Apple forum isn’t the best place to learn about Windows malware, given your focus is clearly involving protecting Windows and Windows security and Windows malware.
• Because Windows malware is not particularly portable to iOS.
• Because routers aren’t firewalls, and devices with NAT as means to share one IP address also aren’t firewalls.
• Because firewalls aren’t all that effective at providing a perimeter in modern networks, either. Look into BeyondCorp and related for concepts and details here. Pragmatically, a firewall is best considered the demarcation between “your problem” and “their problem”.
• Because firewalls have no access into what are ubiquitous network encrypted connections.
• And because firewalls do ~nothing against vulnerable apps, much as Windows malware does ~nothing against iOS apps. Not this side of web application firewalls or ilk, or some vulnerable app.

Firewalls are handy at keeping the port chatter down certainly, the so-called background hum of the internet. They also allow apps with known security issues to be used with somewhat less likelihood of compromise, right up until your printer becomes a hostile network probe. And NAT allows use of the so-called private IP address spaces, which has been a horrible hack built atop the limited IPv4 address space.

If you want assistance with Windows and Windows security as seems the central question, and not a better understanding of malware, there are better spots to ask. I’d start with learning about what Microsoft calls (called?) Windows Defender, and related services.

For the purposes of running an iPhone as a Hotspot, it’s going to provide NAT. Apple iPhone doesn’t have further controls over that NAT (or provide PAT), though a dedicated device such as a Jetpack or MiFi box, or some other Hotspot phone, might provide better control over NAT or PAT, or might (conceivably) offer a “bridged” or “transparent” mode.

Again, an Apple forum isn’t the best spot to learn about Windows and Windows security, or about network security generally

For Apple security information, here is technical introduction: Apple Platform Security - Apple Support

Oblivion99 wrote:

I had just hoped for a best educated guess

Any educated guess from you guys, would be way better than my own

Thank you

The best-educated guess was posted: cross-platform malware is exceedingly unlikely. Not past some random file sitting inert and harmless on some other-platform random file server, or ilk, and which has been the case for decades.

And if what you are envisioning here is truly cross-platform malware whether polyglot file or otherwise, then it’s easily worth somewhere between multiple millions and a sizable chunk of a billion dollars. Well outside our price range.

If you need help with creating some fiction and avoiding overt deus ex machina of course, then invent some fictional rationale for your fictional malware. “Polyadaptive” or “polymorphic” “AI malware” might be a good choice for that jargon, as many folks arguably have expectations thar AI is something more than statistical next-word prediction.

When the iPhone is using Internet Sharing, all data downloaded to any device on its network will go through it; that intended for other units won't be present on the iPhone's internal storage at any point. It's acting as a modem or router for this purpose.

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That can happen. Any protection against it would need to be on the PC, not the iPhone.

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Past the info included in the replies above, and past availing the forensics- and security-related resources referenced above, given your threat model and perceived threats and the immense exploit budget necessarily involved, you've placed yourself well outside what security and forensics assistance can be offered here.

Oblivion99 wrote:

I had just hoped for a best educated guess

Any educated guess from you guys, would be way better than my own

Thank you

Several of us have given you our "best guess" and from many of us more than just guesses (since at least some of us are or have been computer support professionals). What is it you are still expecting to hear?