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 pmckiernan,

    pmckiernan pmckiernan May 26, 2014 7:48 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 7:48 AM in response to veritylikestea

    I have also had the same problem on my ipad and I'm also in Perth. The lock screen appeared and at the same time I received two emails from apple saying lost mode had been activated and one showing me the location of the iPad. Luckily I had a pass code set so was able to regain control immediately. All very strange, haven't been able to find anything on the net other than this thread .  Seems very strange only west aust seems to be affected

  • by lilmky2,

    lilmky2 lilmky2 May 26, 2014 7:52 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 7:52 AM in response to veritylikestea

    Nope in Qld here, so it's seems to be everyone. It's just that it is 1am over here and most people were asleep with it hit at 10:30pm.

  • by poppyp_z,

    poppyp_z poppyp_z May 26, 2014 7:52 AM in response to pmckiernan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 7:52 AM in response to pmckiernan

    I'm in South Australia...

  • by pogster,

    pogster pogster May 26, 2014 8:37 AM in response to poppyp_z
    Level 4 (2,296 points)
    Apple Watch
    May 26, 2014 8:37 AM in response to poppyp_z

    So much for Apple having the best security in the world...... This is ridiculous.

     

    Best or not a determined hacker can eventually gain access somehow.

  • by Bettybam,

    Bettybam Bettybam May 26, 2014 8:38 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 8:38 AM in response to veritylikestea

    The same thing has just happened to me! I'm in Melbourne, and all I did this evening was back up my phone and suddenly it was locked with the "Oleg Pliss" message.
    I don't have a pass code on my phone and so I can't get past the initial screen. I can find my phone on iCloud and when I try to erase the phone the back up contact number it comes up with is the number in the "Oleg Pliss" screen message. When I tried to run the restore it said I needed to disable the "Find My Phone" feature, which I can't do as I cannot get past the first screen!

    Should I erase it or not? The Optus tech support was not helpful. I think I'm going to have to go to an Apple store in the morning (Doncaster - annoying!).

     

    Help!!!

  • by Frappuccino,

    Frappuccino Frappuccino May 26, 2014 8:39 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 8:39 AM in response to veritylikestea

    I'm on a chat with Telstra they're going to see if they can override the lock.

  • by Shleighbo,

    Shleighbo Shleighbo May 26, 2014 8:51 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 8:51 AM in response to veritylikestea

    I'm in Sydney and it has happened to me to at about 1:30am

    Vodafone kept saying "iPhone can't be hacked"

    well buddy, it has!

  • by Bettybam,

    Bettybam Bettybam May 26, 2014 8:52 AM in response to Bettybam
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 8:52 AM in response to Bettybam

    Ok, so I just erased my phone from icloud.com via 'Find My Phone' - and am now restoring it from iTunes. Seems to be working....

  • by Sel_L,

    Sel_L Sel_L May 26, 2014 8:53 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 8:53 AM in response to veritylikestea

    Same things here, both Ipads got the "hacked by Oleg Pliss" message, both have passcodes.  In Western Australia also.  I've gone and changed all my apple id info, and deleted the credit card associated with it.  I've chatted with Apple Chat and they said "this is very serious"   .  They've set up a phone call back from the correct department (whoever they are) tomorrow morning so we'll see what happens then.

    We can access the ipads because they both had passcodes but when an app is used, it comes up with GameCentre password request ... we didn't put it in. 

     

    Feels horrible ....

  • by Bettybam,

    Bettybam Bettybam May 26, 2014 9:03 AM in response to Sel_L
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 9:03 AM in response to Sel_L

    I know, feels very invasive. Once the restore is finished I'm going to change all my passwords on the banking apps and things. So horrible.
    Thanks for the reminder to check the iPad...crap. I haven't backed that up for ages.

  • by tamijoye,

    tamijoye tamijoye May 26, 2014 9:24 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 9:24 AM in response to veritylikestea

    I'm in Ballarat, Victoria. My ipod just stopped suddenly at about 1:30 or 2am (in the middle of my audiobook!) and started beeping loudly (which was annoying, since the kids are sleeping). Am backing up my photos to the computer now, and then I'll try restoring to factory settings. Sigh!!!!!

  • by deegeemeal,

    deegeemeal deegeemeal May 26, 2014 9:30 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 9:30 AM in response to veritylikestea

    Im in Brisbane Queensland and my iphone was set to silent and at 1:30am 27/05/14 just in last hour my phone started beeping loudly and said it had been hacked by Oleg Pliss as well. This is the only forum online that has any information so far - so thanks everyone for writing otherwise I would not have known what to do at all!!! Cheers

  • by Frappuccino,

    Frappuccino Frappuccino May 26, 2014 10:02 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 10:02 AM in response to veritylikestea

    So after a long chat to Telstra, and then Apple...

     

    Apple gave me a case number, and told me to contact the local authorities. They were super helpful. They've also escalated the issue to account security who will contact me later today.

     

    Telstra, bleugh. Not much there.

     

    Apple also said: The passcode can be removed via recovery mode restore. However, it is recommended to wait until the iCloud activation lock is lifted before doing that, because once you restore, it will just go to this screen and you will have to restore again.

  • by deegeemeal,

    deegeemeal deegeemeal May 26, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Frappuccino
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Frappuccino

    Thanks Frappucino - I'll do the same (call Apple) in a few more hours after I've had some sleep Hopefully they get a flood of responses so they can follow up ASAP. cheers

  • by caseymaree,

    caseymaree caseymaree May 26, 2014 11:48 AM in response to veritylikestea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 11:48 AM in response to veritylikestea

    Was woken up by this same thing a few of hours ago (in NSW).

    My iPad & iPhone both had pass codes on them so I was able to go into the iCloud & Find My Phone apps and turn them off. I've also deleted the apps and deactivated the accounts from there and not receiving the messages anymore.

    When I logged on to my mac, got the same message via iCloud/Find My Mac Book, turned both services off and deactivated.

    I was also able to change my Apple account password and remove my credit card details, however I can't get into my iCloud account via the web: password isn't working, tried the reset password route but my DOB and email has been changed in their records, to who knows what.

    I'm fine to not use iCloud anymore, I didn't use it for much anyway, but I have two questions:

    1) What damage can be done by not being able to access my iCloud account if I don't want to use it anymore anyway and there was very minimal data in the account: some notes, contacts, photos...

    And

    2) seeing as I had pass codes and was able to deactivate the iCloud/Find My iPhone, is there a need for me to restore my devices like everyone else seems to be doing?

    Thanks!

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