GettyDangerous phishing scams which trick us into giving away our Apple ID’s have been detected on smartphones, iPhone users have been warned.
Malicious iOS apps can easily create fake login pop-ups which appear when you install or update an app and ask you to enter your Apple ID password before you can continue, an expert has warned, saying if you input your password into one of the fake boxes, hackers can steal it and use it to access your credit card information.
Felix Krause warned, while ‘modern web browsers already do an excellent job protecting users from phishing attacks’ phishing within mobile apps is a rather new concept and ‘therefore still pretty unexplored’, leaving users vulnerable.
PAIn his proof of concept blog post, Krause writes:
iOS asks the user for their iTunes password for many reasons, the most common ones are recently installed iOS operating system updates, or iOS apps that are stuck during installation.
As a result, users are trained to just enter their Apple ID password whenever iOS prompts you to do so. However, those popups are not only shown on the lock screen, and the home screen, but also inside random apps, e.g. when they want to access iCloud, GameCenter or In-App-Purchases.
This could easily be abused by any app, just by showing an UIAlertController, that looks exactly like the system dialog.
The tech genius added:
Even users who know a lot about technology have a hard time detecting that those alerts are phishing attacks.
Krause advises everyone should set up two-factor verification for all your log-ins, which acts as a second line of defence regarding your personal details, beyond your password, which is probably pretty hackable.
Meanwhile, Apple have had a tough time of late – the iPhone 8 has landed and while the tech sheeple have flocked to test out its new updates, the rest of us can’t help but snigger at the ridiculousness of it all.
Cheezburger/GIPHYApple, every now and then, drop a new iPhone and inevitably, the release eclipses everything else for a few days, playing into the perpetual millennial reliance on commodification and capitalism. Only this time, it has Face ID.
As George Orwell turns in his grave, what better way to lighten the mood than a few well placed funny tweets about Apple’s latest clever and totally pointless piece of facial recognition tech.
First, we have the man, the myth, the unseeable legend, John Cena:
Sooo #iPhoneX about #FaceID …ummmmm …. what do I do?
— John Cena (@JohnCena) September 12, 2017
My main concern with the new face ID on the iPhone X is how in the world is John Cena going to unlock his phone
— DAVID DOBRIK (@DavidDobrik) September 12, 2017
All jokes aside, the iPhone does seem to be, as the straight-talking tech heads would say, a ‘nifty piece of kit’, featuring an all-glass casing, A11 Bionic processor and a dual-lens camera setup which pairs a 12-megapixel rear lens with a telephoto lens in the iPhone 8 Plus.
All those new, shiny features and still no headphone jack.
PAMore worryingly, numerous iPhone 8 and iPhone 8+ users claim there’s a huge malfunction which causes the phone’s battery to swell, which in turn, causes the iPhone to crack and split open.
Despite an Apple spokesperson refusing to speak out on how many devices are effected by the fault, Apple are reportedly looking into the claims seriously.
Android forever.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.