User profile for user: shuckzmim
shuckzmim Author
User level: Level1 12 points
Been hacked. The notice comes from errolandtessa. What do I do?
I clicked on a photo of a qr code I scanned for instructions to use products on my new iphone. The message came up immediately, tells me all operations are being tracked. Below is a familiar white strip saying to open the link in the app store, which I've not done.
Now what?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 14, iOS 17
Posted on Feb 13, 2024 3:53 PM
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User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level7 20,225 points
Posted on Feb 13, 2024 4:05 PM
Restart your phone. As long as you have not jailbroken your phone, it cannot be hacked. There is no iPhone message from Apple that will come up saying all of your operations are being tracked and it would make no sense for a hacker to announce that they are tracking you unless they want money or personal account information from you. If the QR code opened up a website, you can just navigate to a different site.
As long as you did not give them your Apple ID/Password, there is nothing else you need to do.
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User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level7 20,225 points
Feb 13, 2024 4:05 PM in response to shuckzmim
Restart your phone. As long as you have not jailbroken your phone, it cannot be hacked. There is no iPhone message from Apple that will come up saying all of your operations are being tracked and it would make no sense for a hacker to announce that they are tracking you unless they want money or personal account information from you. If the QR code opened up a website, you can just navigate to a different site.
As long as you did not give them your Apple ID/Password, there is nothing else you need to do.
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User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level7 20,225 points
Apr 1, 2024 7:29 AM in response to Hackednsikofit
Hacked is a term that some users make when they claim that a third party has remote access to your device to observe and make changes. This is not possible with the iPhone. What can happen is that people will inadvertently give out their Apple ID/Password through a phishing email/message. Any user with that information can do things like delete pictures from your iCloud or even change your password. Some people believe that their device is hacked because of this and that is not the case. Your account may be compromised because of this action, but it is in now way a case that your device is hacked.
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User profile for user: Bob Timmons
Bob Timmons
Community+ 2024 User level: Level10 166,190 points
Feb 13, 2024 4:00 PM in response to shuckzmim
Your phone is not hacked. This is a scam that is trying to trick you into providing personal information.
Do NOT click or tap on a link in any message like this.
Delete the message and move on.
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User profile for user: jonasilver137
jonasilver137
User level: Level1 30 points
Mar 13, 2024 11:41 AM in response to shuckzmim
It's a scam. There is no malware on your device, unless you jailbroken it, but you will download harmful apps if you follow the link and download the app.
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User profile for user: kayley277
kayley277
User level: Level1 8 points
Apr 29, 2024 4:04 PM in response to Soul_embargo
I FINALLY have come across your reply and it actually looks like an educated reply. I have been having this issue for years with so many different phones. And I believe I know exactly who is doing this. But because I am not tech educated I’ve never known how to explain what I’m seeing on my phone. However, now I am not able to access most of my settings , I’m constantly having to use my Touch ID to access literally everything on my phone which I’ve never had to do before, when I try to do emergency reset it shows that it cannot there is a problem when gathering “sharing information” and it never does the emergency reset. When I factory reset the phone it literally comes back to the same wallpaper and everything so it’s obviously not resetting. It shows there is some kind of open source license Apache and MIT license on the phone and I’ve never downloaded anything like that, I constantly get emails that are not from who they say they are, websites look like the website it’s supposed to be but then I’m able to see that it’s a random url. I mean I’ve dealt with so much of this and I don’t know who to go to or what to do. Please advise if you can!
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User profile for user: Kurt Lang
Kurt Lang
User level: Level9 61,006 points
Apr 29, 2024 4:18 PM in response to kayley277
Incredible. There are four sane responses from very experienced and long standing forum members in this topic, and you latch on to the conspiracy theory gobbledygook response.
Apache is on your phone because it's supposed to be there. It's part of every OS Apple writes - iOS, iPadOS, macOS. The MIT license is also normal.
What isn't normal is you shouldn't even be able to see these items. You must have jailbroken your phone to do that and have now left it wide open to all kinds of malware.
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User profile for user: Soul_embargo
Soul_embargo
User level: Level1 9 points
Feb 17, 2024 11:41 AM in response to shuckzmim
As for your problem, bring it to Apple and have them reinstall the software. Ask them if there is a way to ensure the boot sector is not corrupt with the vulnerability, and ask them to master reset and physically plug it into their network to do the software reinstall; often times an OTA is MITMd enroute (intwecwpt) (<<< them again) with code injected software.
my opinions are based on my expwroence (<<<them again) experience.
[Edited by Moderator]
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User profile for user: Kurt Lang
Kurt Lang
User level: Level9 61,006 points
May 10, 2024 12:04 PM in response to Kurt Lang
Just to investigate that post.
Ask them if there is a way to ensure the boot sector is not corrupt…
There's no such thing as a boot sector on an iPad. Here's the startup sequence. This is all cryptographically secured. A third party app cannot alter this data.
and ask them to master reset
There is no master reset Apple needs to do, or is some sort of special action. You can do it yourself at any time. Go to:
Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset.
MITMd
Man In the Middle attacks are possible, but extremely rare. A jailbroken iPhone or iPad is a great way to go in that direction as you can then install apps from anywhere, not just the App Store.
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User profile for user: Losingithackornot
Losingithackornot
User level: Level1 12 points
May 9, 2024 7:44 PM in response to shuckzmim
I just said that it can’t be hacked. I get that but something is installed on my phone to where he can ad monitor me. I’ve heard this answer. I need a better answer please someone
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User profile for user: patpofFallbrook
patpofFallbrook
User level: Level1 12 points
May 28, 2024 6:28 AM in response to shuckzmim
I have taken my managed/ hacked iphone to Apple many times since 2017. This includes a MacBook and iMac.
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User profile for user: Hackednsikofit
Hackednsikofit
User level: Level1 12 points
Apr 1, 2024 1:46 AM in response to Mac Jim ID
Define hacked cus my phone is definitely hacked by my definition
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User profile for user: Kurt Lang
Kurt Lang
User level: Level9 61,006 points
Aug 9, 2024 12:18 PM in response to Raymitronz
Hate to tell you this, but you are being paranoid.
A message is just a message. It can say anything. If I knew your email address or phone number, I could send you a message that I know for a fact you're going to be fired from your job in three days.
Does simply saying something I made up on the spot make it true? The answer is, of course not! The messages saying your phone as been hacked are no different. It's a lie. PERIOD!!!! Stop believing them.
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User profile for user: Servant of Cats
Servant of Cats
User level: Level6 14,410 points
Aug 29, 2024 7:02 PM in response to shelbiladwig
"Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave your iPhone 40 hacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave your Android 41"
If your iPhone has been hacked in this way, there is not much you can do, other than to sweep up the pieces and to call the police. If you mean that you saw a message claiming that your iPhone was hacked - in the computing sense of the word – that was likely a scam, presented by criminals.
FTC – How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Tech Support Scams
Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support
If you are worried about apps tracking you – and, let's face it, a lot of developers of social media apps and store loyalty apps want to track you, mine data about you, or spam you with ads in some way or another – then delete apps you don't trust. Or take advantage of iOS's ability to restrict their access to things like your microphone, your camera, and your location.
About privacy and Location Services in iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS - Apple Support
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User profile for user: tapper2024
tapper2024
User level: Level1 8 points
Mar 13, 2024 10:51 AM in response to Mac Jim ID
I'm curious about how/why this works?
Context: It seems to have cleared up a worrisome issue for us. I have a child studying overseas who used their banking app on public wifi (they knows not to do this but felt stuck, as esim data service wasn't working). When they go into banking app to initiate any kind of transaction, super sketchy pop up appears asking for debit PIN. Restarting seems to have cleared this up. But do I trust that this is fixed? We're doing sw updates, app updates, clearing cache etc, still.
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User profile for user: Servant of Cats
Servant of Cats
User level: Level6 14,410 points
May 9, 2024 8:08 PM in response to Kurt Lang
Kurt Lang wrote:
Apache is on your phone because it's supposed to be there. It's part of every OS Apple writes - iOS, iPadOS, macOS. The MIT license is also normal.
What isn't normal is you shouldn't even be able to see these items. You must have jailbroken your phone to do that and have now left it wide open to all kinds of malware.
There may be some legal requirement for Apple to display the licenses if they want the benefit of using the code. In which case they might have buried the text deep within some menu item that displays other legalese. Whether third parties charge for the use of their code, or not, they're often "funny" about wanting their copyright notice or license to be displayed!
Sure enough, on my iPhone, running iOS 16.7.1, Settings > General > Legal & Regulatory > Legal Notices shows a very long list of third-party copyright notices, and a few third-party licenses, including the MIT license.
I can assure you that my iPhone is not jailbroken or hacked.
The presence of that MIT license proves only that Apple wanted to use some piece of code that falls under it, not that there is anything sinister going on, or that an iPhone is "hacked."
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My iPhone has been hacked, what to do?