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Malwarebytes premium & privacy on IOS


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Hi. I purchased Malwarebytes premium and privacy a couple of months ago. The privacy has activated on all three of my products, my MacBook Pro, my iPhone se and my iPad mini. But the premium has only activated on the MacBook Pro. When I try to download the premium to my iPad and iPhone I am told the app is not available in this country - UK. I paid £79.99 to cover upto five devices only to discover after 2 months that only one device is protected and seemingly very difficult to activate the other devices or to get any support relating to that. I have had the free version installed and so did not realise that I was not covered until weird ***** starts happening in life ...... I have submitted for a ticket, waited 10 days and have finally had a response but all he has done is to send out the information that is already widely available on the internet. I have been through these steps a thousand times. I have had serious issues with being hacked in the past and feel the situation is still occurring. How do I get my refund without having to wait ages for a response so that I can afford to buy something that will be effective instantly and will I get a refund given that it has been longer than 60 days. Its obvious to see that only one device is covered by looking at my account .... Thank You. 

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Unfortunately, it sounds like your problem can only be resolved through the ticket process you have begun. If you can post your ticket number here, perhaps a senior staff member can help expedite things with the Sales deportment.

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23 minutes ago, alvarnell said:

Unfortunately, it sounds like your problem can only be resolved through the ticket process you have begun. If you can post your ticket number here, perhaps a senior staff member can help expedite things with the Sales deportment.

Hi

Thank you so much for your response.

This is really swirling around my head now and getting quite stressful. My ticket number is 4048277 from the response I got this morning but it seems to have stopped there with no further replies. I have since submitted again and have another ticket number 4059048.

I have attempted again to activate my iPad but it is just not happening. 

The more I read the more I realise that I should have paid for the product through the Apple App Store and not directly from the Malwarebytes website and it is Apple blocking this because I bought elsewhere. But there was no clue whatsoever ever about this when I purchased..... 

 

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I have brought this to the attention of customer support. They'll be looking into your ticket soon, if not already.

A few things to mention here:

  1. The app is indeed available in the UK, but it is a slightly different app. If you're clicking a link somewhere, don't do that. Go to the App Store and search for "Malwarebytes" and you should find it.
  2. You will need to log in to a Malwarebytes account within the app to get it working. You should have an account on the e-mail address you used to make your purchase, but if you haven't set up a password yet, you'll need to do that. You can access your account here:
    1. https://my.malwarebytes.com
  3. You mentioned that you have been hacked. Please be aware that that is not something our iOS app can do anything about. Due to Apple restrictions, iOS apps are not able to scan for malware. If you can post details about why you believe you have been hacked, we can work with you to figure out what's going on.
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26 minutes ago, treed said:

I have brought this to the attention of customer support. They'll be looking into your ticket soon, if not already.

A few things to mention here:

  1. The app is indeed available in the UK, but it is a slightly different app. If you're clicking a link somewhere, don't do that. Go to the App Store and search for "Malwarebytes" and you should find it.
  2. You will need to log in to a Malwarebytes account within the app to get it working. You should have an account on the e-mail address you used to make your purchase, but if you haven't set up a password yet, you'll need to do that. You can access your account here:
    1. https://my.malwarebytes.com
  3. You mentioned that you have been hacked. Please be aware that that is not something our iOS app can do anything about. Due to Apple restrictions, iOS apps are not able to scan for malware. If you can post details about why you believe you have been hacked, we can work with you to figure out what's going on.

Hi Treed. Thank you! I do actually have an app downloaded as I had the free anti virus installed. I wonder if I need to uninstall that first. Whenever I go into the app and hence my account I can see that my MacBook is covered but no other devices. When I try to add a device it tells me to download the app which then tells me it is not available in this country. So I have done all of this. I have the activation code, the account via email everything ... 

I was seriously hacked over lockdown with spyware. In fact I realised that I had been hacked for several years without knowing about it.And they were very happy to inform me ... via my own computer! It is linked to ex landlords and associated work, People who had access to my lovely new computer I was so happy with. I was told that MacBooks did not need anti virus ... well they made sure I knew that they could. It was an extremely nasty experience relating to extremely wealthy people etc  Scary is not the word.

I have since renewed all of my devices but the possibility that access has been gained to my iPhone is high and I cant afford to replace it. I keep the data turned off ... that's how bad it is and I just want it to be protected.

I went into the apple store to get some advice the other day and they would not let me in to talk to the genius and were insistent that their products do not need anti virus. I get very mixed messages about all of this .... It is very tiring and has been hugely expensive although I do now have some lovely equipment but unsure how safe it all really is. 

Thanks for reading that essay!!

 

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Most likely, your iPhone was not hacked or infected. There are many methods people can use to stalk you, but malware or some other phone hack is the most difficult to pull off. It's usually only done by nation-states or other extremely powerful organizations against high-value targets. For example, journalists documenting human rights abuses by authoritarian regimes are at high risk of such attack. The average person, though, has almost no chance of experiencing this kind of thing.

Without more details about what you saw, I can't say for sure what happened, but I'd guess it probably involved some kind of account compromise. If someone managed to gain access to your Apple ID, they would be able to use that to see your location, intercept your messages, etc.

Similarly, if someone gains access to other online accounts, they can see a lot of information about you. Worst of all is if someone gains access to your e-mail. If they do, they can probably access many of your other accounts, either by guessing weak passwords or doing password resets and intercepting the password reset e-mail.

If someone may have accessed one or more of your online accounts, there is no app you can download to fix that. You would need to go change the password on all your accounts. Be sure to use a long, random password on each account, and make sure the password is a different one on each account. Store them in a password manager, such as 1Password or LastPass.

Also, set up two-factor authentication on every account that will let you. This will require you to enter a code that is texted to you, or generated by an authenticator app or even your password manager, in order to log in, making it more difficult for someone to gain unauthorized access.

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14 hours ago, treed said:

Most likely, your iPhone was not hacked or infected. There are many methods people can use to stalk you, but malware or some other phone hack is the most difficult to pull off. It's usually only done by nation-states or other extremely powerful organizations against high-value targets. For example, journalists documenting human rights abuses by authoritarian regimes are at high risk of such attack. The average person, though, has almost no chance of experiencing this kind of thing.

Without more details about what you saw, I can't say for sure what happened, but I'd guess it probably involved some kind of account compromise. If someone managed to gain access to your Apple ID, they would be able to use that to see your location, intercept your messages, etc.

Similarly, if someone gains access to other online accounts, they can see a lot of information about you. Worst of all is if someone gains access to your e-mail. If they do, they can probably access many of your other accounts, either by guessing weak passwords or doing password resets and intercepting the password reset e-mail.

If someone may have accessed one or more of your online accounts, there is no app you can download to fix that. You would need to go change the password on all your accounts. Be sure to use a long, random password on each account, and make sure the password is a different one on each account. Store them in a password manager, such as 1Password or LastPass.

Also, set up two-factor authentication on every account that will let you. This will require you to enter a code that is texted to you, or generated by an authenticator app or even your password manager, in order to log in, making it more difficult for someone to gain unauthorized access.

HI,

Thank you for your in-depth response I really appreciate it.

I could actually write an essay on the matter but guess this is not really a good place to do that. I do believe however in this day and age with climate change looming, that many environmentalists and people who work with land in prominent/valuable places can also a focal point. I worked for a very large organisation who was closely connected to my ex landlord who was a QC. My emails were indeed targeted and were being moved around as a means of gaining my attention to the matter and certainly anything I did online via social media was followed as it is still. I was in effect being gaslighted. At the time all my passwords were very weak. But I now do everything possible with the passwords and two factor authentication etc. I need to look into password manager but with fears that someone was into my system I was worried about  access to that also and have just kept hard copies. 

I have read a lot about these things online and I guess the spyware that seems to be readily available and common that I read about is mainly used on other devices and not Apple products? My devices were accessible at the time. They were people I trusted. All Im looking for now is peace of mind after a really nasty incident. And how to actually activate my malware premium onto my new iPhone and my iPad. It must be needed if it is being sold as such and I am sure it states anti spyware as a selling point. 

I just want to feel safe and to have private conversations with my family and friends etc. I have been through all of the steps and have thought I am protected but when I look closer it tells me that Only one of 5 devices is protected and that is my MacBook Pro ... So I needed to check in with this to find out for sure 🙂

 

Thank you for your attention. 

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On 10/29/2022 at 2:47 AM, RosieGlow said:

I have read a lot about these things online and I guess the spyware that seems to be readily available and common that I read about is mainly used on other devices and not Apple products? My devices were accessible at the time. They were people I trusted. All Im looking for now is peace of mind after a really nasty incident. And how to actually activate my malware premium onto my new iPhone and my iPad. It must be needed if it is being sold as such and I am sure it states anti spyware as a selling point. 

There absolutely is spyware for Macs, though Malwarebytes for Mac should detect it. The most likely scenario with people who would have had access to your Mac would be installation of some kind of "legitimate" spyware, marketed for monitoring children. Such software would be detected as a "potentially unwanted program" (PUP) by Malwarebytes.

Detecting malware or spyware is absolutely outside the capabilities of our iOS app, due to Apple restrictions, as I mentioned previously. Based on what you've said, I'm confident that there's no chance your iOS devices are infected... but you would absolutely need to lock down all your online accounts, including your Apple ID, to ensure nobody other than you has access.

Quote

thought I am protected but when I look closer it tells me that Only one of 5 devices is protected and that is my MacBook Pro

Don't pay attention to what your Malwarebytes account says. It will not show any devices with the UK app active. Just make sure all the features of the iOS app are active within the app.

However, again, don't expect this to prevent someone from spying on you through your online accounts.

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1 hour ago, treed said:

There absolutely is spyware for Macs, though Malwarebytes for Mac should detect it. The most likely scenario with people who would have had access to your Mac would be installation of some kind of "legitimate" spyware, marketed for monitoring children. Such software would be detected as a "potentially unwanted program" (PUP) by Malwarebytes.

Detecting malware or spyware is absolutely outside the capabilities of our iOS app, due to Apple restrictions, as I mentioned previously. Based on what you've said, I'm confident that there's no chance your iOS devices are infected... but you would absolutely need to lock down all your online accounts, including your Apple ID, to ensure nobody other than you has access.

Don't pay attention to what your Malwarebytes account says. It will not show any devices with the UK app active. Just make sure all the features of the iOS app are active within the app.

However, again, don't expect this to prevent someone from spying on you through your online accounts.

Hi again. Thank you so much for giving this your attention. I did read about the monitoring children spyware this weekend and was quite shocked by what I read in particular how new phones can be delivered with it already installed ... wow! I also strongly suspect this may have been the case in the past on my old computer since I looked after the house of these people on many occasions, its a good way to keep a check on me. So naive!!

But weird stuff has happened on my new devices recently and anything like that just gets my fears going because I am not tech savvy and I find myself seeking immediate answers to why has this happened! Im a lot wiser than I used to be ... Certain people (who I could be about to report certain situations to the police) seem to know some very private things about me that could not be possible if they were not in my system ... it feels scary and controlling, they seem to know who I am talking to on my phone and also in person ... and what I am talking about. I actually had my data turned off for a week for some peace of mind ...Contemplated buying new devices AGAIN, but I cant afford it ... I cant live like this. 

I am learning to keep my software up to date, have super strong and different passwords for everything and also turning off my data during private conversations etc

.... I really appreciate being able to discuss this here because so many other people just don't want to hear it, don't want to get involved or think Im a little crazy and it otherwise just swirls around my mind, but, but, but ...

It's also good to know that all of my devices would not show up because I am in the UK, however my MacBook does show ... but I am actually going to trust you on this!! 🙂 

I also hope this conversation serves as a warning to help other people on this forum be aware of such possibilities .... Maybe it will save potentially nasty situations happening to others. 

Thank You🙏

 

 

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8 minutes ago, RosieGlow said:

I did read about the monitoring children spyware this weekend and was quite shocked by what I read in particular how new phones can be delivered with it already installed

Please be aware that this is not the case for any iPhone. Certain Android phones and Windows PCs have been known to come with some nasty stuff preinstalled, but this does not happen with Apple devices, unless you possibly obtained them second-hand and didn't erase them before using them.

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