Malwarebytes for IOS scanning and region differences

[Badran]

I see.

My apologies.

[Badran]

Last night I did a factory reset of my iPhone 13 mini to see if I could fix that issue I had with the settings looking a bit weird when opening it in dark mode.

It fixed the issue with settings, but it started occurring in different Apple apps, like the messenger and App Store, so I have no idea what’s causing it. If I’m in light mode it doesn’t occur, and if I use the zoomed setting with dark mode, it doesn’t occur either, so it be a default view dark mode bug.

Around this hour. I opened settings and I had a little notification which asked me to verify my iPhone passcode. What’s the trigger for this?

Is my device in any sort of danger?

I turned the device off since I got very paranoid as I’ve never seen this notification before and I don’t know what causes it. I’ve not really used my phone a lot today so maybe that’s something to do with it.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Badran
Additional information

[Badran]

Do you think I should factory reset again?

[Badran]

Okay, so after this all happened I factory rest my iPhone and it’s been fine.

Just 30 minutes ago though, my iPhone has given me a notification to confirm my iPhone passcode in settings to continue using iCloud.

Can anyone explain why this is?

[Badran]

To add, my iPhone automatically backed up my data while it was charging and the notification appeared shortly after that, so maybe it’s related to that?

If someone could help clear this up I’d greatly appreciate it.

Edited January 27, 2023 by Badran

[alvarnell]

6 hours ago, Badran said:

Just 30 minutes ago though, my iPhone has given me a notification to confirm my iPhone passcode in settings to continue using iCloud.

Can anyone explain why this is?

Call Apple, although I don't really understand why you feel an explanation is required.

[Badran]

I was unsure if something could’ve caused it or not, and got paranoid.

I contacted twice and one of them told me it’s a standard thing, but I have no idea why it would happen now for seemingly no reason.

[treed]

None of what you're describing here is a security issue, or has any relation to Malwarebytes apps for iOS. Your questions would be more well suited for Apple support. We can only speculate as to the reasons for something like a password notification from Apple. We can only say that there are such notifications that are legitimate, but you'd need to talk to Apple to find out why it was displayed.

[Badran]

I contacted Apple support and they said the passcode prompt is legitimate to help protect iCloud data. Not sure what causes he prompt but it only happened one time since I factory reset my iPhone.

I am having a relative that’s having a problem with their phone, though. When they’re using safari they keep getting redirected to an ad page. I’m not sure why this is, but I tried clearing history and website data on their phone, but it seems to appear again after doing that.

I’m not sure if it’s something to do with them using mobile data, since they get redirected to a website which has the logo of their mobile network provider, so it could be that?

I don’t know what they clicked on for this to happen.

This is happening on an iPhone 6 and it’s on it’s latest iOS from what I can tell.

Update:

I cleared website data and history again and told them to use wi-fi instead of mobile data since the mobile data could be causing the random pop ups or something?

Hopefully it’s fixed for them.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Badran

[Badran]

Okay, so it’s been over a day and they said it started happening again on Wi-Fi. I have no idea what site is causing it, since they have an immense amount of tabs opened. I can’t tell if it’s a permanent infection in general, I’m really not sure about all this.

[Badran]

Before I cleared their history and website data again, the pop up happened again. Seems to be called “lucky puppy.xyz” or something along those lines.

update: I was hoping to install Malwarebytes on their phone, since I use that on my PC, Apple devices, etc. But since it’s an iPhone 6 it can’t run the app since it’s stuck in iOS 12 due to the phone being older.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Badran
More info

[Badran]

I don’t know for it’s inappropriate to ask, but I’m wondering if there’s a good mobile security app for iOS before 13?

[Badran]

Turns out it was a specific site that was causing them the problem, it seems.

It was hard to tell since they kept opening new tabs to the point of having an insane amount of them. Going through and teaching them how to close tabs and clear the history, etc.

[Badran]

Honestly don’t know what to say to them, other than don’t browse those sites causing it. I would install extensions for safari on their phone, but I don’t know what’s safe, and what’s not, so I don’t want to put them at risk.

[Badran]

Wanted to ask if there’s any recommended settings for iPhone/iCloud to turn on.

Also might be silly but can voicemails be compromised. Got what I can assume was a scam call today, but I never answered and they left a voice mail. Something about insurance which I know nothing about. I reported the number and blocked the call thereafter and decided to turn on the spam blocking since I never had it on before.

[Badran]

If I have Malwarebytes block known scammers, will it show up in the recent contacts that I’ve been called by them?

I want to turn on the block as opposed to the warn to stay safe, but I’m not entirely sure how it works.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Badran
Fixed a typo

[treed]

7 hours ago, Badran said:

If I have Malwarebytes block known scammers, will it show up I’m the recent contacts that I’ve been called by them?

This is not something that you have any control over. If someone calls you, your number will always show up in their recent calls list, regardless of what you do on your end. But then, they already had your number anyway.

On the converse, they can't see whether you blocked them or just didn't answer. The only thing they'd be able to see is if you answered the call.

The only difference between "block" and "warn" with our software is whether you see the call or not. If you're worried about a legitimate call getting blocked, keep it set to "warn." If you're getting hassled non-stop and just want it to stop, and haven't seen any legit numbers get blocked, set it to "block."

Regardless of what you choose, nothing can block the caller's ability to leave a voicemail, unless you don't even have voicemail capabilities set up on your phone number.

[Badran]

Thanks for the explanation!

I guess I’ll set it to warn for now, since I don’t frequently get scam or spam calls that often.

[Badran]

Is it dangerous to browse on iOS devices, and how much does the Malwarebytes app block in general.

I’ve got it enabled on my iPad but I pretty much only access this site on my device, since I don’t do a lot of browsing. Still, I do get a bit alarmed when I see a bunch of website data added in setting when accessing this site alone, since things get added like Facebook.net, doubleclick.net, etc.

Another thing I’m paranoid about is malware links in general or phishing links, as I’ve gotten several phishing links dm’d to me on the Twitter app by people who must’ve clicked it themselves, and while I don’t click them, I get paranoid as if just viewing the DM and not clicking anything is enough to infect my device.

[treed]

We cannot, of course, guarantee that the app will block every malicious site. It's simply not possible to make that kind of claim. However, it should do a pretty good job, and if you find something that's not blocked, you can report it over in the Research Center - specifically, the Newest IP or URL Threats forum, for this kind of thing.

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/forum/44-research-center/

That said, it's possible, but quite rare, for an iOS device to get infected by malware simply by visiting a website. This kind of thing typically involves nation-state level malware, and is very targeted. The average person is not likely to ever see anything like this unless something changes drastically. Keep your devices on the latest version of iOS and you shouldn't need to worry about this, unless you are someone that a nation-state would pay a lot of money to surveil. If you feel you are such a person, enabling Lockdown Mode on your iOS devices would be a good idea.

[Badran]

Thank you for the response!

Im not too in the know how with iOS in general, so I get a bit alarmed when something happens.

Not too long ago I was prompted to put in my password for my account while I was using an app. I assumed maybe I was signed out or something, but I wasn’t at all, so maybe I accidentally clicked on something? I’m honestly not sure.

I read online that it was maybe connection issues that could’ve caused it? As it only occurred on one of my devices, but not both of them.

I do wish there was a general IOS chat, like how there’s one for windows.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Badran
Additional info

[Badran]

I got a bit alarmed when I booted up my iPad today, as my battery was drained from around 28% to 2% because the mail app was running in the background for some reason.

This is the first time it has happened so I’m wondering if that’s a sign of infection?

I don’t even have it set up, so I don’t understand why it did this. I’m also on the most current iPadOS, so I’m even more confused.

[alvarnell]

5 hours ago, Badran said:

I’m wondering if that’s a sign of infection?

No!