**************Intro;**************
iPhones can’t be hacked right? Well, that’s not strictly true,
whilst iPhones are generally more secure than Android devices, they absolutely can be hacked,
or they can appear to be hacked, which can in some cases be just as dangerous. In this video,
I’ll tell you everything that you need to know about this important topic. We’ll talk about how
to tell if your iPhone has been hacked, how they get hacked in the first place,
the most common hacking scams, and what to do if you’re impacted.
OK, let’s get into it.
**************************************************************************************Signs
that your iPhone might be
compromised**************************************************************************************
So, we’ll work on the assumption that all iPhones, once taken out of their boxes,
are not compromised in any way, and that the hack or the compromise happens after
some kind of involvement with us, the end user. How can you tell if
your iPhone has been hacked? There are some warning signs you can look out for.
1. The first is excessive battery drain, despite your phone usage not changing. Your iPhone is
designed to be good at regulating it’s battery usage, even on older devices, so if you know
that you’re not using your phone any differently to how you usually would, but your battery is
draining rapidly, and possibly also getting very hot in the process, this could be something to
be aware of, although not enough by itself. 2. Another sign that your iPhone might have
been compromised is the presence of apps that you don’t recognise. If you head to Settings,
then General, and then iPhone Storage, then scroll down, all of the apps in this list are
apps that are installed on your phone right now. If you see anything here that you don’t recognise,
that could be a telltale sign that something has been downloaded to your phone without you
knowing about it, and I’d encourage you to delete any apps that you’re not sure about.
3. Something else worth taking a look at is your data usage and messages. This is tricky to find
out if your phone is mainly used on wifi, as you’d have to try and find the information out via your
ISP, but if you’re out and about a lot, you can find out how much mobile data you’re using by
going to Settings, then tapping on Mobile Data, and then viewing the section shown down here
under mobile data. If the number shown here is much higher than you’d expect it to be,
this suggests that your phone is doing something in the background that’s using
a lot of data. Also, head to your Messages app, and look to see if your iPhone has been sending
out messages without your knowledge. 4. Finally, pop ups. This is where,
usually when you’re browsing the internet, a popup or several popups will appear on
your screen. They might be advertisements, or X Rated content, or even warnings that your iPhone
has been compromised. If you get these a lot, there could be something up with your device.
**PIA Integration**
In a video all about hacking, it would be remiss of me not to mention the importance of using
a VPN, even on your iPhone, and the VPN that I always recommend here on the Channel is Private
Internet Access, who are also sponsoring today’s video. One of the things we’ll talk about in this
video is the risk associated with accessing the web on your iPhone using public wifi,
and one way you can mitigate against that risk is by using a VPN. Essentially, the second you enable
a VPN, your traffic gets routed through encrypted tunnels, hiding your browsing data from anyone who
might want to access it, whether that’s a company trying to target you for advertising, or even a
cyber criminal. And the number one reason why I recommend PIA is their transparency, specifically
their no-log policy, which they’ve successfully defended multiple times in court. PIA even
commissioned an independent audit by Deloitte, so you can be sure that your browsing activity is
visible to you, and you alone. And it isn’t just for browsing the web, you can also use the VPN to
access geo-restricted content. Private Internet Access have recently announced 50 new servers in
each state in the US, making them the VPN with the largest number of servers in the United States. So
whether that’s because you want to access local news, access your bank accounts, avoid live
content blackouts or save money on the best deals, you’re taken care of. And right now, Private
Internet Access are offering a holiday special, 83% off the 2 year plan plus 4 months for free,
which is just over $2 per month, when you sign up, using the link in the description of this video.
**********How can an iPhone be hacked?**********
OK, let’s explore some of the different ways that iPhones can be compromised.
1. Using public wifi without any form of protection does not guarantee that you’re
going to be hacked, but the chances of you being hacked increase significantly if you
do so. Public wifi is the wifi that you get in coffee shops, hotels, places like that, and the
temptation is to simply connect and then carry on your business as normal. The problem is that
you’re connecting to a network with potentially hundreds, maybe even thousands of other people,
and if you’re submitting confidential information, like logging into a banking app or your email for
example, it’s much easier for someone else who is also connected to that network to be
able to intercept that information. The fix, thankfully, is easy. Use a VPN. I do recommend
Private Internet Access, although I do fully disclose that they are a sponsor of this video,
ultimately it’s your choice which VPN provider you decide to go with, but the simple act of enabling
a VPN as soon as you connect to public wifi will greatly reduce the chances of you being hacked.
2. Another way that iPhones can be hacked is by downloading an app to your device that
contains some form of malware or virus. Apple are pretty good at keeping the App Store locked down,
apps are required to jump through quite a few hoops in order to be featured in the app store,
so in general, if you’re downloading an app from the official app store to your phone,
you should be OK, but things do slip through from time to time. But there’s an entire other category
of app that can cause real issues, and those are the apps that get downloaded to jailbroken
iPhones. Jailbreaking is essentially reconfiguring your iPhone to bypass many of Apple’s security
and control measures, giving the end user more control of their phone in the process,
but also exposing them to more risk. In my opinion, the risks massively outweigh the reward,
so I’d never recommend jailbreaking your iPhone. 3. Your iPhone can also be hacked through another
person gaining access to your device, either with or without your knowledge. This point is actually
significant enough that I’m going to talk about it in it’s own separate section of the video.
**********************************************************************************How
can people gain access to my
iPhone?**********************************************************************************
There are a number of ways that people can gain access to your iPhone. The first is pretty
obvious, but not something that I see talked about much in videos about hacking, and that’s through
the people that you know, who you perhaps allow temporary access to your device. The idea here is
that someone who is able to access your iPhone for a period of time downloads something known
as Stalkerware onto your phone, typically without your knowledge. Stalkerware is software that runs
in the background, and relays information about the device it’s installed on to someone using
another device. The range of information can be huge, anything from telling that other person what
websites you visit, to displaying the contents of your messages, even sending up-to-date information
about your whereabouts. You might think that this sounds extremely invasive, and it is, but these
apps are often marketed under the guise of being parental monitoring tools, allowing parents to
keep track of what their kids do on their iPhones. The problem of course is that, once installed, the
app doesn’t know or care if you’re a child being monitored by a parent, or an adult being monitored
by an abusive, controlling partner, so knowing what to lookout for here is really important.
If you open Settings, then head to Privacy and Security, then scroll right the way down
and choose Safety Check, you can then use the Manage Sharing and Access function to
find out which apps have got access to things like your location. If an app has been granted
access here that it shouldn’t have, you can revoke that access, and I would absolutely
recommend that you do that immediately for anything that you don’t recognise. You can
also use this same tool to revoke access to anyone who might be tracking you using the FindMy app.
************************************Social Engineering************************************
A common method used by hackers to gain access to your iPhone is something called social
engineering. Social engineering is described as “the use of deception to manipulate individuals
into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent
purposes.” In other words, you’re being tricked into giving over information that you shouldn’t.
This happens on your iPhone way more than you might think. If you’ve ever received an
email from ‘Apple Support’ claiming that your iPhone has been hacked,
and asking you to click on a link to start the process of fixing it, that’s almost certainly
an attempted social engineering hack. Or, if you’ve had a text from a courier letting you
know that there’s a delivery waiting for you that you weren’t expecting, and that you need
to pay a couple of pounds or dollars to have it shipped to you, that’s also social engineering.
These hacks have lots of different names attached to them. Phishing is usually a dodgy email with a
link that the hacker wants you to click on, to then fill out some information. Smishing is the
same, but it happens by text. I couldn’t possibly cover every type of social engineering hack in
this one video, but the one piece of advice I will give you is to exercise caution and scepticism,
always. Don’t simply take things at face value. If you get a text from a courier on a number
that you don’t recognise, asking you to click a link and pay a fee for an item you didn’t order,
exercise caution, don’t do it. If you get an email telling you that your iCloud account has
been compromised, and that you should follow a link to change your password immediately,
take a moment to review the email. Who has it come from? Are there spelling mistakes or obvious
grammatical errors? Legitimate companies will never ask you to divulge sensitive information,
especially not over email or text, in order to resolve an issue with them,
so if you’re ever in doubt, ignore the correspondence, and contact the company using
their publicly available communication channels to find out if you actually have a problem.
********************************************The ‘Fake Hack’
Hack********************************************
Remember at the start of the video, I said that some scammers will pretend to gain access to
your iPhone, which can technically be just as dangerous? This is technically all a part
of social engineering, but it’s so common that I wanted to include it as a separate
talking point. If you’ve ever had a popup on your iPhone when browsing the internet,
telling you that your iPhone has been hacked, there’s a good chance that it hasn’t been,
but that a hacker is trying to prey on your fear. The idea is that you’ll see the notification,
which could also include a mention of things like your approximate location, perhaps even
your IP address, and you’ll be so concerned at the prospect of your iPhone being hacked,
that you’ll follow whatever instructions the popup tells you to. This often involves following a link
and handing over sensitive information, but it can also ask you to call a number, or visit a website,
where a hacker will further convince you that your device has been hacked, and tell you that
they can fix the problem for you, whilst scamming as much money out of you as they possibly can.
****************************************************My iPhone has been hacked - now
what?****************************************************
OK so, in general, if you strongly believe that your iPhone has been hacked,
I’d advise that you do the following;
1. First, try to manually remove whatever it is that you believe has caused the hack. If
you identified an app for example, like we talked about earlier in the video,
look to manually delete that app. 2. Second, consider using an iPhone
security tool, from a reputable company. I can’t vouch for any, as I’ve not used any myself,
but there are tools out there that are pitched as ‘antivirus’ software for iPhones,
that will help you identify if your iPhone is likely to have been compromised,
and advise you on what to do about it. 3. Third, for any iPhone that you suspect
has been compromised, I’d recommend wiping the device and starting again,
creating it as a brand new iPhone. You would do this by heading to Settings, then General, then
choosing Transfer or Reset iPhone, then choosing Erase all Contents and Settings, and following the
steps there. If you’ve got a cloud backup from a time where you know your phone wasn’t compromised,
you could try and rebuild your device using that, but if in doubt, create it as a brand new phone,
that way you know exactly what you’re downloading, and what you’re giving access to.
**Proper Weekly**
By the way, if you’re enjoying the content here, why not consider signing up to my newsletter,
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****************************************************************************************How
to avoid being hacked in the first
place****************************************************************************************
OK so, the best way to deal with being hacked is of course to not get hacked in the first place,
so let’s talk about that. The fact is, when it comes to iPhones, so long as you’ve not jailbroken
your’s, the chances of it being compromised with an actual virus is actually pretty slim,
and hackers know this. Rather than investing time and effort trying to break the constantly
evolving security of your iPhone, malicious actors know that their time is better spent
trying to hack you, the iPhone owner. It’s actually much easier to get you to willingly
hand over control of your device, or hand over important credentials, or some of your money,
than it is to break your iPhone’s security. If you keep this in mind,
there are some rules that you should always abide by, when using your iPhone.
1. First up, if you’re going to use public wifi, invest in a VPN. I use Private Internet Access,
who are also the sponsor of this video, you can use any that you like, but do your research
before you sign up. Free VPNs are, in general, best avoided, as nothing in life is ever free,
and free basically means that you are the product. In other words, your browsing data is most likely
being harvested and sold, so keep that in mind when choosing. Whichever VPN you choose,
activate it the second you’re on public wifi, to keep your browsing extra safe.
2. Second, apply caution when you receive any communication that’s telling you that something
has gone wrong, and telling you to immediately do something to fix it. Whether that’s an email
telling you that your iCloud account has been compromised, or a text telling you that you
need to update your online banking credentials, anything where you’re being encouraged to click
on a link, and input information is a recipe for trouble. If in doubt, if you know anyone who’s
pretty tech savvy, get a second opinion from them, and if you’re still unsure, contact the company on
their customer service number or email instead. 3. Third, don’t jailbreak your iPhone. In 2022,
there really isn’t much need to, as honestly most of the features and functionality that
jailbreaking was all about back in the day have since been added to the iPhone,
and all jailbreaking your iPhone does, in my opinion, is remove the protection that’s
built into your iPhone. People don’t associate viruses and hacks with iPhones for a reason,
so don’t make it easier for people to hack you, just use your phone as intended,
and download all your apps from the App Store. 4. Finally, be careful who you grant access to
regarding your phone. By granting access, I mean both real access, like letting someone
actually use your physical phone, but also virtual access, so things like letting people track you
via the FindMy app. I’m not saying you should never do either of these things by the way,
I’m just saying to be cautious about it, and use the Safety Check element of your iPhone
on a fairly regular basis, to ensure you always know just how much you’re sharing.
******End******
Oh and finally, one piece of advice I always give out in these videos, use a separate username and
password for all your accounts. Using the same username and password combination,
no matter how good that combination might be, means that a hacker only has to hack one
account of your’s, and they’ve potentially then got access to all your other accounts.
So there you go, that’s how to know if your iPhone has been hacked, what to do about it,
and how to avoid it happening in the first place. Follow these tips,
and hopefully you’ll be able to stay safe while using your device.
And as ever, if you found this video useful, do please consider leaving me a like,
and subscribing to my channel for more content like this in the future.
See you on the next video.