veritylikestea
Level 1 (1 points)

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

i was using my ipad a short while ago when suddenly it locked itself, and was askiwhich I'd never previously set up. I went to check my phone and there was a message on the screen (it's still there) saying that my device(s) had been hacked by 'Oleg Pliss' and he/she/they demanded $100 USD/EUR (sent by paypal to lock404(at)hotmail.com) to return them to me.

 

I have no idea how this has happened. I am not aware of having been exposed to malware or anything else, although i did recently purchase some new apps - perhaps one of these has something to do with it? I don't know. I am not sure what avenue has been used to reach my devices - I'm about to use my husband's laptop to check through some of my accounts (gmail, etc) and see if there is any clue there.

 

Has this happened to anyone else? What can or should I do? Many thanks

iPhone 5

Posted on May 26, 2014 4:57 AM

by georz,Solvedanswer
georz georz
Level 1 (10 points)
A:

I had the same problem originally. This is what I was told to do (and did) over the phone with applecare support.

 

Turn off your phone.

Plug your cable into the computer and have itunes up (do not plug into the phone yet)

Press and hold the home key on your off phone (I did mine for about 10 seconds). If nothing happens, plug in the cable into your phone (keep holding the home key)

What you want to see come up is the picture of itunes and cable on the front of the phone

Your itunes should then recognise the phone as an unidentified phone

Select restore factory settings (it should down load some software) ~15 mins and automatically install

The phone should go through some of the standard reset screens (usually black screen with apple icon and loading bar)

You will be prompted to restore the phone.... do this from itunes not the phone

 

Throughout this process you must not let the phone or computer go into sleep mode.... and don't disconnect.

 

I had the same issue with the lock screen but it was related to sim card once I did the restore.

 

I had to set the erase from icloud website, but that didn't originally work as it requires connection to the internet for it to apply, hence plugging it into the computer.

 

I accidentally started setting up my phone via the phone and got stuck on the sim card lock screen so had to do it from scratch again and this time via itunes and all good. Hope that helps

Posted on May 26, 2014 6:37 PM

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

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  • by MidniteDaydream,

    MidniteDaydream MidniteDaydream May 28, 2014 9:09 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 9:09 PM in response to Chris CA

    Yes...

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA May 28, 2014 9:18 PM in response to MidniteDaydream
    Level 9 (79,692 points)
    iTunes
    May 28, 2014 9:18 PM in response to MidniteDaydream

    Then why isn't it okay for someone to access your iPhone?

  • by MidniteDaydream,

    MidniteDaydream MidniteDaydream May 28, 2014 9:26 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 9:26 PM in response to Chris CA

    Sorry - I didn't realise I was communicating with someone who is intellectually challenged. The two issues have nothing in common. One is well discussed and politically challenged corporate malfeasance involving Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc., who are overcharging one specific country,  where the parties involved have been summoned and asked to explain by the Australian Government, the other a criminal act.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA May 28, 2014 9:33 PM in response to MidniteDaydream
    Level 9 (79,692 points)
    iTunes
    May 28, 2014 9:33 PM in response to MidniteDaydream

    You seem to be confusing copyright issues (what is available in what country from what copyright owner) with the price of products actually available in that country.

  • by marumurak,

    marumurak marumurak May 28, 2014 9:38 PM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 9:38 PM in response to veritylikestea

    Since you are such a genius Chris, explain why a song costs twice the price in Australia when it is a global coppyright?

  • by MidniteDaydream,

    MidniteDaydream MidniteDaydream May 28, 2014 9:46 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 9:46 PM in response to Chris CA

    No, I am seldom confused. It has NOTHING to with copyright, it has only to do with price gouging. Even Australian produced products, if purchased through Amazon/Apple etc., are charged at a much higher rate than when sold in the US. If you have no knowledge on a subject, perhaps it would behove you to avoid commenting on it.

  • by Tlix,

    Tlix Tlix May 28, 2014 10:36 PM in response to MidniteDaydream
    Level 4 (1,420 points)
    May 28, 2014 10:36 PM in response to MidniteDaydream

    This thread isn't about your criminal behaviour. It's about helping people get their devices back and determine what needs to happen so it doesn't happen again in the future.

  • by lotsasmiles,

    lotsasmiles lotsasmiles May 28, 2014 10:47 PM in response to Tlix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 10:47 PM in response to Tlix

    Thanks Tlix - we need to get back on track ....

     

    How can I get my ipad back without doing a restore!!! Grrrr

  • by dtscaps,

    dtscaps dtscaps May 28, 2014 11:17 PM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 11:17 PM in response to veritylikestea

    My take on this:

     

    This has been a 2 stage process.

     

    1.

    The harvesting phase. Someone in Autralia has managed to manipulate the BGP routing table. A peer injecting a 17.x.x.x route more specific than Apple's own routes. By doing so inpersonating one of Apple auth servers, maybe based on the same hack as the one capable of impersonating Apple's activation process. Somehow I would not be surprised to see some of Apple's private keys out in the wild too. DNS poisoning is probably unrealistic due to widespread use og globally located dns servers.

     

    2. The attack phase.

    The least interesting part of course as to trying to find the origin. This is most likely controlled by bots.

     

    I was hoping this tread would focus more on the harvesting phase.

  • by snozdop,

    snozdop snozdop May 29, 2014 12:07 AM in response to marumurak
    Level 5 (5,815 points)
    May 29, 2014 12:07 AM in response to marumurak

    marumurak wrote:

     

    Since you are such a genius Chris, explain why a song costs twice the price in Australia when it is a global coppyright?

     

    There is no such thing as "a global copyright". Copyright laws and music licensing laws and rates vary from country to country. That's why there are iTunes Stores for each country, not a single global one.

     

    Anyway, the cost of a song in Australia is irrelevant for the topic of this thread.

  • by deskokat,

    deskokat deskokat May 29, 2014 2:43 AM in response to pogster
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 29, 2014 2:43 AM in response to pogster

    Flair for stating the obvious re password strength. The password wasn't unique 'to me', it was unique from all the other passwords I use. That was the point I was responding to above...

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. May 29, 2014 3:25 AM in response to lundkeman
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 29, 2014 3:25 AM in response to lundkeman

    lundkeman wrote:

     

    It would not be a stretch for hackers to go from unlocking stolen devices with a hack, too locking them.

     

    There is absolutely nothing about the Dutch unlocking hack that is applicable to this situation. That hack requires the hackers to have the devices being unlocked in their physical possession. Due to the methods used, it cannot be applied remotely, and cannot be used to remotely lock devices.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. May 29, 2014 3:30 AM in response to Chris CA
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 29, 2014 3:30 AM in response to Chris CA

    Chris CA wrote:

     

    So it's okay for you to access iTunes against Apple's terms of service?

     

    Chris, this is not helpful. It's going to be impossible to get to the bottom of this if replies like this make people become reluctant to share details, for fear of being accused of something. Let's stay focused on the problem at hand, please?

  • by garthur79,

    garthur79 garthur79 May 29, 2014 5:18 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 29, 2014 5:18 AM in response to veritylikestea

    I live in the UK and I myself haven't been hacked, but I have turned off my Find My service on both my IPhone and IPod (It wasn't enabled on my macbook) as this seems to be how the hackers are getting onto people's devices. I have had a different password for all the various things I use ever since the Heartbleed bug was first reported and I changed my password after Ebay was hacked. However, with all these hacking stories flying around it almost feels like nowhere on the internet is safe and it is just a matter of time before I am a victim

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. May 29, 2014 5:38 AM in response to garthur79
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 29, 2014 5:38 AM in response to garthur79

    I live in the UK and I myself haven't been hacked, but I have turned off my Find My service

     

    Although I myself have recommended doing that, it's important to understand the potential problems with doing that. Turning that off decreases the chances of protecting your phone and its data in case it is stolen. If that's not something you're comfortable with, just keep your phone backed up so that if you do get hacked, you can restore the phone without incident or serious inconvenience.

     

    it almost feels like nowhere on the internet is safe and it is just a matter of time before I am a victim

     

    Yup. If that's what you've learned from this, that's a good thing. Keep that attitude in the front of your mind with everything you do with your electronic devices. That knowledge is the best thing for protecting you against being a victim, just as keeping a close eye on your surroundings can keep you from being mugged.

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