Q: My devices have been hacked. What do I do?

I have read a lot of these messages but unless I am missing something there is no answer to unlock my IPad. I have connected via PC but it won't let me factory restore as it says - "Find my Ipad" must be turned off before Ipad can be restored"

The Ipad is not connecting to the internet so cannot turn off remotely and as I can't get past the Passcode I can't turn on internet access or turn off "Find my Ipad" on the device itself.

Any useful advise would be great. 

MidniteDaydream wrote:

 

Not a valid theory as there are numerous victims who are not Telstra customers.

Nobody had said so thus far, that I had seen, but I guess this now shoots that theory in the foot.

A common VPN service could explain it, but only if that VPN were overwhelmingly used by Australian and New Zealand users, and not by anyone else in the world. I don't know that there are any that fit that bill. Unblock-Us, which you mentioned earlier, does not fit that criterion.

Stefarn wrote:

 

I have read a lot of these messages but unless I am missing something there is no answer to unlock my IPad. I have connected via PC but it won't let me factory restore as it says - "Find my Ipad" must be turned off before Ipad can be restored"

The Ipad is not connecting to the internet so cannot turn off remotely and as I can't get past the Passcode I can't turn on internet access or turn off "Find my Ipad" on the device itself.

 

Any useful advise would be great. 

Try the advice from the bottom of this KB article.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1212

Getflix is the only Australian based service that routes IP addresses to tunnel into the US, but it isn't a VPN service. I know for a fact they have updated their servers as soon as the heartbleed exploit was reported. Anything is possible. If we can find the common thread, then we can put this to bed.

My kids use unblock and if you look at several of their video "how to set up" examples, it seems they have different VPN servers for different areas. There are also a large number of smaller "anonymising" apps that might be suspect. Hard to be sure, as even with my kids they have used several different VPN servers, some for games, some for video, some for supposed security. Even Avast offer an anonymising VPN service nowadays. So far it is the only common denominator that I am aware of.

In order to use an iPad or iPhone with unblock-us they provide a VPN service. For computers they just have you change the protocol and domain name server. I imagine other companies would do something similar. BTW, I doubt that there is anything surreptitious about  unblock-us, but they might have been a target for data mining - maybe even in the early stages of heartbeat.

I'm not aware of the OP or other affected users status on unblock-us, but as you said, they do use local servers. I  think they have one in Australia, as they provide tunneling to AU services.

II'm in Australia too & my sons account was hacked. His password & Apple ID/email address was changed & apple have told me too bad. The phone is locked with iCloud & while I don't know the password we cannot restore it to factory settings. We cannot disable location services so the phone is off unable to be used so this creep cannot "find my phone"

any ideas on how to restore to factory settings & dodge the whole iCloud thing would be great.

apples lack of care/empathy has left me disgusted.

MidniteDaydream wrote:

 

In order to use an iPad or iPhone with unblock-us they provide a VPN service. For computers they just have you change the protocol and domain name server. I imagine other companies would do something similar. BTW, I doubt that there is anything surreptitious about  unblock-us, but they might have been a target for data mining - maybe even in the early stages of heartbeat.

It might be worth sending them an eamil and ask if their servers in OZ might have been breached.

I moved from unblock-us to Getflix, as it was local and half the price.

There's no point getting huffy at Apple, they didn't hack your account. Focus on getting it working and change all your passwords. If you use the same email address and password you use for your Apple ID, with other services, then change them immediately.

Try the advice from the bottom of this KB article.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1212

Alert to all:  Anyone reading this, who uses the same email and password for their Apple ID and other web services, don't.

If you share an Apple ID with family members or even friends, don't. Because if you do, you have no idea what other people might use those details for.

Always keep account details that have financial connection to you, separate from any other web accounts.

Having been in IT for many years, it just astounds me the number of people who share these kind of accounts. People must understand, ID is what it says, your identity. Keep it private, and do not share it. I keep telling my clients, but it doesn't seem to get through, until something like this happens.

Apple ID's cost nothing. It is not that hard.

Just wanted to added that my iphone that was affected is with Optus, and my ipad is on TPG wi-fi only, so no Telstra/BigPond link for me.

Thanks Andrew J. But in this case, what's the warning to people like me who don't use the same passwords across different accounts, but still got shafted anyway?

I'm Optus wifi at home & my iPhone is pre-paid Virgin Mobile (which uses the Optus network).

I do use Unblock-Us for Netflix. Though all family/friends who also use it were not affected.

deskokat wrote:

 

Thanks Andrew J. But in this case, what's the warning to people like me who don't use the same passwords across different accounts, but still got shafted anyway?

I empathise with your situation. Haven't had this happen but had other things that have caused much grief. Just a question to rule it in or out, do you share your Apple ID with anyone else?

Somehow, a third part has harvested your details and logged in to your account. We know what the problem is, now we have to find the cause. In the mean time, people need to take as many precautions as they can.