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1-Jul-19 2:06

My wife has an iphone and practices general safety with it. Yesterday she was innocently reading an article on a site from a link on Facebook (I know, I know, but think end-user).

From that article, she clicked on another link to read another article*.
*More about this in a moment

While reading the article she got the following pop-up alert and texted me to ask if it was legit.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/NYhYQ.png[^]

I explained that it was not. I told her the best thing she could do is turn her phone off and back on.

Norton: Does It Do Anything?
At this point I installed Norton Security Essentials on her phone but all it did was say, "You should connect to safe networks". It was tough for me to figure out what it was saying, but basically it was saying don't use wifi at the coffee shop or whatever.

Normal End-Users Have No Chance
I was completely confused about the iphone. I couldn't really check the web site she was looking at using VirusTotal.com because we weren't sure which site she visited. We began wondering if (even though she hadn't clicked on the pop-up) her phone had been compromised.
Even Norton didn't seem to be scanning for viruses or anything. It just sat there and stared at us. And oh, yes, it told us "Norton will make sure you have the latest OS updates". Is that all you need to insure your iPhone hasn't been compromised?

It's No Wonder Everyone Has Given Up On Security
Every time I run into an issue like this I am always convinced that security is setup to help the scammers.
End-User : Safe Through Obscurity
The poor end-user is basically safe only because there are 100s of millions of other people who probably exercise less security than you do.

What About My Wife's Unsafe Behavior of Clicking Links?*
I told my wife, "well, you really can't just read articles on various sites like that."
She said, "Well, what's the freaking purpose of having a phone and Internet and all this if you can't really go anywhere on the Internet?" It's a good question really. Why is there so much unsafe stuff out there (why don't devices just not even allow the stuff to be seen?)

VirusTotal Explanation
I told her, "well, anytime you want to read an article on a site you should go to VirusTotal[^] first and enter the full URL that you will visit and allow it to scan it.
"It's not worth it," she said.
And as an end-user, I can totally understand that.
Meanwhile, we really have no definitive answer that her iphone** isn't compromised. it's really quite stupid. Hmmm | :|

**She has a iphone XS Max with all updates applied.

PS - we did a VirusTotal.com scan of the web site mentioned in the pop-up screen at the top and it said that site is clean, which it may be but the site has to be questionable since it contains a spelling error.

UPDATE - Check Out This New Article Headline
Message to IT: Trusting Apple and Google for mobile app security is career suicide | Computerworld[^]

modified 1-Jul-19 9:07am.

David Crow1-Jul-19 2:14

David Crow

1-Jul-19 2:14

The grammar in that is atrocious.

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raddevus1-Jul-19 2:20

1-Jul-19 2:20

David Crow wrote:
The grammar in that is atrocious.

Yeah, it's obviously a fake and my wife wasn't fooled. They know that mentioning viruses and damage to device will get people to react emotionally first though and sometimes it works.

Jörgen Andersson1-Jul-19 2:37

Jörgen Andersson

1-Jul-19 2:37

Your wife most probably clicked a "commercial" masked as a link.
That's why you can't find it afterwards, you get different commercials every time.

Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

raddevus1-Jul-19 2:45

1-Jul-19 2:45

Yeah, that makes sense. She wanted to retrace her steps in an attempt to see if she could figure out what happened, but you can't really do that either since you may compromise your device when attempting to figure it all out.
Apple really should provide a virus scanner for their users so you can just run it and get an idea if the device is compromised. As an end-user you just throw up your hands and say, "I guess it is okay, because it has to be."
This is how the IT World has taught end-users to be apathetic about security. Hmmm | :|

Jörgen Andersson1-Jul-19 2:48

Jörgen Andersson

1-Jul-19 2:48

raddevus wrote:
Apple really should provide a virus scanner

They have one, but they don't tell you because "iPhones don't get viruses".

And your phone most probably didn't get infected because she didn't click the button.

<edit>It's even more probable it's just a scam, and the link really does go to App Store, to make her install an app costing money.</edit>

Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

raddevus1-Jul-19 2:55

1-Jul-19 2:55

Jörgen Andersson wrote:
They have one, but they don't tell you because "iPhones don't get viruses".

And your phone most probably didn't get infected because she didn't click the button.

Thanks, that's encouraging about this challenging situation.

Slacker0071-Jul-19 2:48

Slacker007

1-Jul-19 2:48

Beards

The pompey30-Jun-19 23:29

The pompey

30-Jun-19 23:29

People with beards are just people without beards with beards

Johnny J.30-Jun-19 23:37

Johnny J.

30-Jun-19 23:37

Next thing we know, you'll be saying "Jehovah"[^] D'Oh! | :doh:

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OriginalGriff30-Jun-19 23:59

OriginalGriff

30-Jun-19 23:59

You should be stoned!

Just advice, it might relax you a little.

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CodeWraith1-Jul-19 0:28

CodeWraith

1-Jul-19 0:28

Then people without beards will have to buy fake beards.

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His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

GenJerDan1-Jul-19 0:56

GenJerDan

1-Jul-19 0:56

Kinda like a public merkin. Smile | :)

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Frank Malcolm1-Jul-19 20:53

Frank Malcolm

1-Jul-19 20:53

Now there's something us older chaps need, a pubic merkin.

j snooze1-Jul-19 11:49

j snooze

1-Jul-19 11:49

Pretty sure he already is stoned.

HobbyProggy1-Jul-19 0:13

HobbyProggy

1-Jul-19 0:13

So shaved people are just people without beards with beards without beards?

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glennPattonWork31-Jul-19 0:35

glennPattonWork3

1-Jul-19 0:35

I was under the impression the world hit peak beard a few years ago?

PeejayAdams1-Jul-19 0:43

PeejayAdams

1-Jul-19 0:43

glennPattonWork wrote:
I was ~~under the impression~~ hoping that the world hit peak beard a few years ago

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain

maze31-Jul-19 1:22

maze3

1-Jul-19 1:22

At first I was writting "pre shaving would be peak beard"
But one could argue that currently more humans with beards live now then at any point in history. D'Oh! | :doh:

glennPattonWork31-Jul-19 2:00

glennPattonWork3

1-Jul-19 2:00

Well, since domestication & reliable razor blades maybe, from a look at a Natural History museum Humans were pretty furry! Wink | ;)