suzanne3382

Q: Can the iPhone5 be hacked remotely by a hacker?

I work for a technology company and one of our employees shared an incident about her iPhone5 being hacked remotely. The hacker gained access to her device overnight while her phone was unlocked. The hacker watched her baby monitor video feed from the baby monitoring app  (including taking pictures and video from the device), posted about the baby to her FB account, browsed on Safari, including some searches of French books on amazon and Scott Trading sites. When I spoke with the mobile device team, they were not familiar with any iOS security gaps that would allow a hacker to remotely gain control of an iPhone, however, the activities on her device suggest that this is possible.

 

I found some articles from 2009 regarding a SMS virus that allowed hackers to gain remote access to a device, however, our mobile device team is certain that this gap would be closed by now.

 

Is anyone familiar with an existing security gap on the iPhone5? What would you recommend would be the next action for her? She is intending to delete her icloud account, change all her passwords and wipe her device.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.1

Posted on Mar 19, 2013 1:23 PM

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Q: Can the iPhone5 be hacked remotely by a hacker?

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  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 23, 2016 6:49 AM in response to me2on6
    Level 9 (58,414 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 23, 2016 6:49 AM in response to me2on6

    me2on6 wrote:

     

    If you read any (preferably all) of my posts, it's abundantly obvious that the phone is hacked.

    No, really, it's abundantly obvious that they have not been hacked and that you are misinterpreting things and are unwilling to do the troubleshooting that would probably resolve your issue because of your idee fixe. I am concerned that other people with similar, solvable problems will read your posts and panic.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 23, 2016 8:13 AM in response to me2on6
    Level 8 (37,854 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 23, 2016 8:13 AM in response to me2on6

    I have read all of your posts (which was painful), and all I can say is the FBI needs to talk to you, because they paid over $1 million to a hacker to hack the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone. Clearly there's a hacker who will do it for nothing if they hacked your phone.

  • by Lschoend,

    Lschoend Lschoend Apr 23, 2016 1:37 PM in response to suzanne3382
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apr 23, 2016 1:37 PM in response to suzanne3382

    I have read all of these comments and the ones that claim your iPhone can't be hacked are delusional. I watched both my and my daughter's iPhones (5 and 5s) operate themselves. No cables were attached. Whoever was controlling the phone was opening apps, trying to download music, etc. and was also able to prevent me from getting to Settings or turn off the phone. I spent 20 minutes playing games and finally had to do a hard reset then quickly erase the phone. Was probably malware from an app that was downloaded, who knows, but to assert that it was a bad cable or anything else is just nonsense. I would rather be informed and alert than lulled into some false sense of security.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 23, 2016 1:56 PM in response to Lschoend
    Level 9 (58,414 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 23, 2016 1:56 PM in response to Lschoend

    Lschoend wrote:

     

    I have read all of these comments and the ones that claim your iPhone can't be hacked are delusional. I watched both my and my daughter's iPhones (5 and 5s) operate themselves. No cables were attached. Whoever was controlling the phone was opening apps, trying to download music, etc. and was also able to prevent me from getting to Settings or turn off the phone.

    What you're describing sounds like a bad digitizer. There's an axiom taught to medical students that applies here as well: When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. Given the mountains of professional evidence that says your phone can't be remotely hacked, making the assumption that your phone has been hacked rather than some other, more likely explanation, is definitely jumping straight past zebras right to unicorns.

  • by tonefox,

    tonefox tonefox Apr 23, 2016 2:24 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 6 (9,271 points)
    Apr 23, 2016 2:24 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Meg St._Clair wrote:

    ...jumping straight past zebras right to unicorns.

    Of the invisible pink variety, indeed.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 23, 2016 2:30 PM in response to Lschoend
    Level 8 (37,854 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 23, 2016 2:30 PM in response to Lschoend

    Lschoend wrote:

     

    I have read all of these comments and the ones that claim your iPhone can't be hacked are delusional. I watched both my and my daughter's iPhones (5 and 5s) operate themselves. No cables were attached. Whoever was controlling the phone was opening apps, trying to download music, etc. and was also able to prevent me from getting to Settings or turn off the phone. I spent 20 minutes playing games and finally had to do a hard reset then quickly erase the phone. Was probably malware from an app that was downloaded, who knows, but to assert that it was a bad cable or anything else is just nonsense. I would rather be informed and alert than lulled into some false sense of security.

    Considering that the FBI just paid a professional hacker $1.3 million to hack an iPhone, you really need to explain to them that it was unnecessary, that it's clear that any iPhone can be hacked for free.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 23, 2016 2:33 PM in response to tonefox
    Level 9 (58,414 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 23, 2016 2:33 PM in response to tonefox

    tonefox wrote:

     

    Meg St._Clair wrote:

    ...jumping straight past zebras right to unicorns.

    Of the invisible pink variety, indeed.

    With glitter.

  • by Lschoend,

    Lschoend Lschoend Apr 23, 2016 2:47 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apr 23, 2016 2:47 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Sorry to disappoint you both, Meg and Tonefox, but Apple Support agreed with me. Digitizers were not mentioned. I received clear instructions to erase all content and settings and set it up as a new phone, then selectively reinstall only trusted apps. As far as unicorns go, assuming that two different device models both developed the same hardware problem, independently, within less than 24 hours of each other sounds a lot closer to invisible pink unicorns with glitter. And by the way, in my profession we routinely operate entire banks of iPhones remotely as part of load testing mobile apps. All you need is the software on the phone and a remote system to control it. Granted we installed it deliberately, but what we can do anyone else can do. In the future, your comments would be far more helpful and perhaps taken seriously were they not so disrespectful and dismissive.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 23, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Lschoend
    Level 9 (58,414 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 23, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Lschoend

    Lschoend wrote:

     

    And by the way, in my profession we routinely operate entire banks of iPhones remotely as part of load testing mobile apps. All you need is the software on the phone and a remote system to control it.

    And you remotely (with no physical access to the phones) installed this software?

  • by Lschoend,

    Lschoend Lschoend Apr 23, 2016 3:01 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apr 23, 2016 3:01 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Meg I (and everyone else) routinely install software in the form of apps. All it takes is an app that is not what it seems. This is a widely known problem (flashlight apps are infamous for this but there are many others).

     

    For those confused by the FBI paying money to get a phone hacked, they misunderstand the problem. Trying to hack a phone once it is locked is obviously difficult but not impossible. My phones were only being remotely operated when they were unlocked. Also this is software I probably installed unawares, not software someone tried to install remotely. Installing software remotely and using already installed software to control a device are two completely different problems.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 23, 2016 3:09 PM in response to Lschoend
    Level 9 (58,414 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 23, 2016 3:09 PM in response to Lschoend

    Lschoend wrote:

     

    Meg I (and everyone else) routinely install software in the form of apps. All it takes is an app that is not what it seems. This is a widely known problem (flashlight apps are infamous for this but there are many others).

     

    For those confused by the FBI paying money to get a phone hacked, they misunderstand the problem. Trying to hack a phone once it is locked is obviously difficult but not impossible. My phones were only being remotely operated when they were unlocked. Also this is software I probably installed unawares, not software someone tried to install remotely. Installing software remotely and using already installed software to control a device are two completely different problems.

    If it were as easy as you seem to think, there would be security experts posting articles about it all over the place. The instances in which apps that were downloaded by the person who owns the phone which turned out to be malicious, were very limited and the exploits were quickly patched. But, the important thing is they were not installed remotely. They required someone to download the apps from an untrustworthy source (in all but one case). Is it absolutely impossible? No. Is it highly unlikely? Yes. Is it likely that it's what happened to your phones? No.

  • by Lschoend,

    Lschoend Lschoend Apr 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apr 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Thank you for your opinion but I prefer to trust the experts paid to do this, They work for Apple Support.

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