MMHRN
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Someone used my apple ID to access my emails, imessages and facetime.

My phone began to play up over the last couple of days. My emails got wiped, some apps were reset to the beginning, I could only send messages but could not receive them. My phone reset itself to factory settings twice.

I took it to the apple store last night. The technician could not even access my phone from his little hand held device to perform a diagnostic test.

I received a reconditioned phone as a replacement due to a faulty sleep button.

I came home and used my back up on my itunes to load my phone. I also changed my apple ID password. THEN i received an email from apple saying that at midnight the night before, someone had used my apple ID to access my emails, imessages and facetime. I changed my password AGAIN.

Now freaking out. What else can I do to protect myself, my phone and my personal information?

 

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.1.3

Posted on Feb 26, 2015 5:31 PM

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MMHRN

Q: Someone used my apple ID to access my emails, imessages and facetime.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Feb 26, 2015 6:12 PM in response to MMHRN
    Level 9 (56,564 points)
    iPhone
    Feb 26, 2015 6:12 PM in response to MMHRN

    Set up 2 factor authentication. Now.

     

    Frequently asked questions about two-step verification for Apple ID - Apple Support

  • by MMHRN,

    MMHRN MMHRN Feb 26, 2015 6:18 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2015 6:18 PM in response to KiltedTim

    I did that last night and it said it would take affect on the 1st March. Will try again now.

    Should I do it from my iphone or secure work computer?

  • by MMHRN,

    MMHRN MMHRN Feb 26, 2015 6:29 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2015 6:29 PM in response to KiltedTim

    I just went to do it again and was reminded what the 1st March date meant... apple won't allow me to set up the 2 part verification until the 1st        

    March to ensure my account isn't being used by someone else.

    I will go back on the 1st March and do it then.

    In the meantime, I am guessing it is my home pc computer that is being hacked or has a virus, hence how someone got my details????

  • by MMHRN,

    MMHRN MMHRN Feb 26, 2015 7:07 PM in response to MMHRN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2015 7:07 PM in response to MMHRN

    Can anyone shed light on how this happened? Why?

  • by thomas_r.,Helpful

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 27, 2015 5:04 AM in response to MMHRN
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 27, 2015 5:04 AM in response to MMHRN

    MMHRN wrote:

     

    Can anyone shed light on how this happened? Why?

     

    Not really. I mean, we can definitely say that someone hacked into your Apple ID/iCloud account. Who did it, why and how it was done is not something we can answer. It could be someone you know who managed to guess your password, based on personal knowledge about you, in an attempt to mess with you or harass you. It could be a total stranger who hacked your account through brute force, aided by a weak password on the account, in order to use the account for purchases. It could be someone who has hacked one of your other accounts that had the same password as your Apple ID.

     

    Dwelling too much on the who, why and how isn't productive. You'll probably never know. Just focus on securing the account now. Make sure you go back on March 1 and finish the two-factor verification process. When you do, make sure you store the recovery key somewhere secure, because if you lose that and forget your password, you'll never be able to use your Apple ID again. In the meantime, make sure you have set a strong password on the account... longer is better, but it doesn't have to be complex. A password that is long but simple, like "I like apples and bananas!", is better than something short but complex, like "kn352!fn". Provided, of course, that your long-but-simple password isn't easily guessable based on knowledge of you, or because it's a common phrase (such as "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs").

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Feb 27, 2015 5:14 PM in response to MMHRN
    Level 8 (38,305 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 27, 2015 5:14 PM in response to MMHRN

    To add to the advice from thomas_r. (which I agree with completely), if you are in the habit of using the same password for multiple accounts change every one of them that is the same as your Apple ID password. And make them all different from each other. One way to do that is to create a good, long, password, then add something from the site that you use it with to the password. An example might be the first and last letter of the site name. for example, if you had an account with Capital One, and your base password was "mydoghasfleas" (not a good choice, BTW) then the Capital One password would be "cmydoghasflease"

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 27, 2015 7:02 PM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 7 (30,944 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 27, 2015 7:02 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Lawrence Finch wrote:

     

    if you are in the habit of using the same password for multiple accounts change every one of them that is the same as your Apple ID password. And make them all different from each other.

     

    Excellent point. A password manager like 1Password, or even iCloud Keychain, can help with that.