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Subject: Re: Are iPhones subject to ransomware attacks?
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2024 10:28:58 +1300
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On 2024-03-15 19:11:11 +0000, <bp@www.zefox.net> said:
> 
> A neighbor asked me for help with an iMac that had fallen victim to
> a ransmomware attack ("this computer has been locked, call the number
> below....").
> 
> I'm left wondering if iPhones are subject to similar attacks, since
> they offer most of the services found on desktop computers including
> browsers. The subject computer was reasonably up-to-date and only a
> couple years old. The hijack was during an attempt to connect to
> MapQuest using the Safari browser. The screen seemed locked and I
> didn't know how to recover control. Is there a force-restart- to-
> safe-mode for iOS or MacOS?

For most Mac models these days just holding the power button down for a 
few seconds will force it to shutdown.

Right/control-clicking on the app's Dock icon or pressing 
Command-Option-Esc will allow you to force quit an individual crashed 
app that is no longer repsonding.



> Are iPhones subject to similar attacks? If not, why?
> 
> Thanks for reading, and apologies if this is a dumb question!
> 
> bob prohaska

Ransomware and malware in general is extremely unlikely on MacOS or 
iPhone / iPad unless you purposely do something incredibly stupid. It's 
almsot certainly not going to happen by simply going to a legitimate 
website like MapQuest in a web browser. More likely it was just a fake 
advert pretending to be ransomware and it caused Safari to crash and 
stop repsonding.