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Cyp1974

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2024
4
1
I think my iphone has been compromised by a virus and websites accessed without me knowing (hits have been flagged by my company wifi). Can anyone recommend a 'deepscan' software or any advice for finding out if it has some kind of malware on it. The hits did not appear on my search history. I would like to find categorical evidence to protect my job.
 
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Cyp1974

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2024
4
1
Many thanks but I need to know what specific virus is on my phone in order to prove it is behaving in the way it is. Is there any software that can do this?
 

narc1981

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2013
40
128
In case of a restore after a wipe, you will probably restore the malware as well (even if it’s unlikely that you got one).

A better solution maybe is to wipe, configure the phone as a new iPhone and manually reinstall apps and reconfigure.
 

laptech

macrumors 601
Apr 26, 2013
4,096
4,422
Earth
People, please pay attention to what the OP is asking. It is so annoying when people do not pay attention and make unrelated posts.

If this post is true in Apple discussion forum back in 2023 then iphone's cannot get viruses.


Which means something else must be going on with the iphone.

This is a good guide from NordVPN. It's title is a bit misleading because at it states in the article you cannot scan for viruses on an iphone therefore you have to carry out various types of checks on the iphone yourself

 
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FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
6,472
3,346
People, please pay attention to what the OP is asking. It is so annoying when people do not pay attention and make unrelated posts.
True enough... that said "I think my iphone has been compromised by a virus" almost ALWAYS means there is no compromise ;)
 
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Bichon

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2019
291
488
Were you surfing the internet when your employers had the security hits from your phone on their wifi? And was the hit you described simply that your employer's security software blocked you from visiting a site classified as malicious?

Many sites, even perfectly legitimate ones, serve banner ads delivered through an advertising network, and sometimes those ad networks deliver ads with elements or links from sites flagged as harmful.
 
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Cyp1974

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2024
4
1
Thank you for this. Yes, looking at the times that the hits occurred it was quite possible that I was surfing the internet or on Facebook etc. However, the websites that have allegedly been hit are adult ones, which I don't think would be advertised through an advertising network!
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,602
1,379
Cascadia
Working in infosec, for companies who have *TRIED* to breach the iPhone, there are no known viruses/hacks that aren't either:

1. Require extraordinary effort on the part of the user - jailbreaking-style - that would be blatantly obvious to you as they would do things like require you connect to a computer every time you reboot your phone to make it work again.
or
2. Performed using yet-undisclosed vulnerabilities - something that is basically never done against random individuals; but almost always by nation-state level actors, against specifically-targeted individuals. (Russian state intelligence service attempting to hack a specific Western reporter, for example; or US CIA attempting to hack a foreign target.)

It is near-certain that your phone was not compromised, hacked, or infected with a virus.

However, there are many scam websites, some that even show up far-earlier-than-they-should in search results, that pretend to be legit websites, and may redirect you to fake scam websites and trigger "a website you shouldn't have accessed" alerts by corporate IT defenses. But these are just websites - your history should show them; although they may show the name of the website they were pretending to be, rather than the actual name, depending on how sophisticated the scammer.


If the phone is a personally-owned device being used on the corporate network, your company should have installed "MDM" software (Mobile Device Management) to allow them to be sure your device is safe on their network, and would be able to prove in their own logs what you visited. You would need to insist on seeing those logs (if they attempt actual disciplinary action against you) to explain what they're seeing.
 
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Iwavvns

macrumors 6502a
Dec 11, 2023
657
920
Earth
However, the websites that have allegedly been hit are adult ones, which I don't think would be advertised through an advertising network!
Yes they would, I've seen it happen. This is why I use an ad blocker for most websites these days.
 

Cyp1974

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2024
4
1
Thanks very much AF and Iwavvns (Greek?). That's very interesting. I was trying to think back to what kinds of things I was looking at at the specific times. Are there any particular kinds of websites that have these banner ads?
 
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