I think I have a bot on my iPod touch… and I I need to know how to get rid of it A.S.A.P.!!! please please please help and FAST!!!
iPod touch, iOS 5.1.1
There is no malware for any iOS device, unless it has been jailbroken. Why do you believe you have malware?
There is no malware for any iOS device, unless it has been jailbroken. Why do you believe you have malware?
because my server ( Comcast) keeps having pop ups come up n say that they have detected a bot. however the same thin has happened on out family Mac computer n my sisters apple laptop. my parents don't know that I use the wifi n I jus want to be 110% sure that this "bot" they they have found is not coming from my iPod n into the wifi box n infecting every one else's! now you said that bot can't get to IOS devices… does that count for all IOS versions??? are yo sure? ad no my iPod is not jailbroken!
You may indeed be 110% sure a "bot" has not infected your iPod. Comcast sends this warning to its subscribers with reckless abandon.
There could be several reasons Comcast has implicated your IP as a source of "bot" activity. If anyone in your familty is using a Windows computer that has been pressed into service as a "bot" that would explain it. So would the presence of any such computer that has used your family's Wi-Fi network.
IP addresses change from time to time for reasons beyond your control. If the IP address you are now using was associated with a "bot" at some time in the past, that would also explain Comcast's complaint.
When your ISP tells you they have detected "bot" activity, that can mean many things. As John has indicated, it could mean that a Windows machine on your home network is infected with something. It could mean that a Mac on your home network is infected with something, although that is extremely unlikely at this point in time. (See my Mac Malware Guide.)
However, often, these alerts are triggered by no more than an attempt to access a known "bot" site or phishing site. A malicious JavaScript that a hacker sneaks into a legit website could be all that is required to trigger such a connection, and does not involve your machine being infected in any way.
Your iPod, or any other iOS devices you may have, is guaranteed at this time not to have any malware since you have not jailbroken it. You can scan all the other machines in your household with anti-virus software to set your mind at ease. I would recommend ClamXav for that purpose on the Macs.
You should also be sure that your wifi network is locked down with a password. If it's wide open, not only is that insecure, but someone could be "piggybacking" on your network who is infected.
Let's be clear here, while there are no known viruses in the wild that have infectednon jailbroken iPods, there is no guaranty that there will never be one. But more importantly there have been significant virus activity discovered on Macs, which Apple is beginning to admit. For example, see: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/06/14/mac-malware-apple-marketing-message/ While the bot, if there is one (you suggest–probably correctly– that it is a Comcast false positive), almost assuredly did not come from the iPod, it could be present on one of the Macs. I'd recommend a virus scan.
there have been significant virus activity discovered on Macs
Yes and no. Yes, more than 25% of all Mac OS X malware in existence has appeared in 2012. However, that 25+% consists of only 8 different malware programs, all of which are very rare, out of a grand total of 30 malware programs in the history of Mac OS X. So, while an infection is certainly possible and a scan wouldn't be a bad idea, we shouldn't blow this out of proportion.
... But more importantly there have been significant virus activity discovered on Macs,
Nothing in the article you reference that supports this statement.
The article discusses malware. Mac malware is nothing new - malware targeting the Mac predates OS X itself, and there is nothing (yet) to prevent anyone with an Administrator name and password from installing malware on a Mac. There are many examples.
Bear in mind that the article was written by a commercial software company that exists to sell commerical products, mostly to large companies with an enormous installed base of Windows / Android / RIM devices that would become instantaneously useless without such products.
Fear is a highly effective sales technique. Don't buy it.
so are you guys saying that it is pretty unlikely tht i can get a virus on my iPod???
Yes very, very, very, very..... unlikey that the iPod has a virus.
okay, are you 100% positive?
No, just 99.9999999999% positive.
okay, so it's pretty impossible for my iPod to have a virus? do you know what makes it so impossible?
A couple of reasons. One is that each app is sandboxed so it really does not communicate with other other apps and functions of the iPod. Another is that there is no file system like computers have.
okay thank you this really helped :)
I thought you wanted 110% certainty. I'm afraid you will have to accept 99.9999999999%.
I jus want to be 110% sure that this "bot" they they have found is not coming from my iPod
There are hundreds of millions of iOS devices. None have been known to be infected with a virus. Unless it's jailbroken, everything installed on every single one of them came from Apple.
So 99.9999999999% may not be 100% accurate but it is approximately correct.
🙂
how do I remove a virus from my iPod touch???
