Phishing and Malware on iPad

[asimmd]

HI All

Last night I was using my late 2012 iPad and without warning a pop-up
showed itself informmg me that I was in contravention of British Law for looking at
or trying to look at pornography,which of course I wasn't.

It advised me that unless i paid £100 into an account my iPad would no longer work
and it would be locked forever.

Well the only way round this was to do a complete reset wipe everything and reload
which it did automatically for me.

Question is are there programmes I can put on my iPad to either stop this happening
again or to at least get rid of the problem should it happen again.

Thanks

Alan

[shadfan4]

Was it actually locked?

Mike.

[Steve Reynolds]

i have had a few of these come up, they are actually like adverts essentially, if you just click close that go away but for those that dont know they end up wiping everything. Not sure on programmes as i didnt think Apple was very succeptible to virus' etc.

[timryland]

As Steve said, they don't actually do anything. IPads are locked down tighter than Windows PCs, so the scammers are just trying to frighten you.

I've had a couple, just clicked through them with no after effects.

For all that frustrating with iPads, i.e. Having to use iTunes to get music on, etc.., this is one area I appreciate.

Tim.

[asimmd]

Hi All
Thank you for the replies.

Nothing I did would make it go away,restarting only brought it back so the only
thing left to do was a full hard reset.

With the reset done and my password for the email entered I had my iPad back.

All my emails were restored from the server nd all my apps returned so nothing lost.

I am wary about re instilling the Angry Birds app so I will leave it for now.

Alan

[Cruachan]

Hi,

I know the doomsayers are constantly warning us not to be too complacent. Apple products like the Macs and iPads have always been regarded as being more secure than their Microsoft counterparts, without the need for 3rd party scanners. Some are now suggesting that they are becoming more vulnerable to malicious attacks from the Machiavellian low life out there and it's possible that these assertions are correct. My wife and I have been using iPads and Macs (she has a MacBook Pro laptop) for years. We have never suffered any unwanted intrusions despite our fairly liberal internet activity coupled with a healthy wariness and common sense. Avoidance of suspect websites and double-checking what you are clicking is a given but on a Windows based PC, despite protective solutions being in place, there will still be times when you are more likely to become the victim. There are good reasons why this is so.

This thread describes the current situation and puts things into perspective:

security.stackexchange.com/questions/100561/why-are-macs-more-secure

However, I very much doubt that it will change my habits, at least not in the short term.

Regards,
Mike

[garystrat]

Hi Alan

You should be able to clear this sort of thing by simply going to Settings > Safari and clearing all History and Website Data (the bottom of options), that's providing you haven't clicked on any malicious links on the page.

Regards

Gary

BTW You can do a hard reset, which should retain the data, turn off the iPad and back on again with the front button held down.

www.hard-reset.com/apple-ipad-hard-reset.html

The above link shows the various options

[garystrat]

Hi Alan

I also meant to say that if you have Anti Virus on your iMac (or other desktop Mac) most are capable of scanning connected iPads, I have used Intego VirusBarrier for some years now, it also checks for PC viruses so they are not passed on and will also scan Mac/Windows partitions.

Gary

[asimmd]

Hi Gary

Thanks for the reply.

I had to do the Erase all Content and Settings because the Reset option did not
clear the problem.

Everytime I went back into Safari it was still there.
I know it was a bit drastic but it was the only way to do it.

As I said all my settings and Favourite Apps were restored so no problem.

Alan

[garystrat]

Hi Alan

Clearing History and Website Data gets rid of all the Safari cached information such as history and cookies, Safari should then return to the original default Favourites dropdown box (favourites are still saved, so you won't lose these). Usually the Safari page is locked in this way by cookies, if you mean an iPad restart that won't clear them. Erasing all content and settings of course does, but everything can be restored if backed up via iTunes prior to any problems.

It may also be worth checking that Privacy and Security is set to "only allow from websites I visit" and Fraudulent Website Warning set.

Gary

[asimmd]

Thanks Gary

[kipper]

hi I had this on my computer about a year ago Sandra I think it was recommended hitman pro free version for clearing it. and it did work very well. also malwareby is great
peter