Hacked

[twerppoet]

The challenge questions are something that your sites request and use. I generally enter the answers in the notes field of my password app. There are no questions for the iPad itself.

If you always use the VPN, then the wi-fi is not a major concern. That assumes you’ve got a reliable, safe VPN. I haven't heard of fake/unsafe VPNs being a thing, so I wouldn’t worry to much about that either. The dedicated IP address is most likely for those who want to host their own sites and services. It is unlikely you need one.

 

[SPROINGY]

Ahhh, twerppoet, now I get your meaning.

Too bad for me that the dedicated IP address won’t likely help with the hacker.

I’m thinking I should find out how to get rid of the hacker and get back to enjoying the ‘Net instead of chasing down solutions to his/her latest messing with my settings!

 

[scifan57]

Has anybody had possession of your iPad while you weren’t there? I’m asking because that hacker would need to have your iPad in his hands to cause the problems you’re experiencing.

 

[SPROINGY]

Unfortunately, I must answer ‘yes’ to your question. Naive of me! It’ll never happen again!

I have to go back to the computer shop again today, the 4th day in a row.

My focus now is finding out how to get rid of this so-and-so and his nonsense. I just want to get back to enjoying the ‘Net without hassle!

Now, I don’t even know what Step 1 is regarding losing a hacker. But I *absolutely will not stop until I do. Every day I feel stronger about this.

Thank You for your reply, scifan57!

 

[scifan57]

Unfortunately, I must answer ‘yes’ to your question. Naive of me! It’ll never happen again!

I have to go back to the computer shop again today, the 4th day in a row.

My focus now is finding out how to get rid of this so-and-so and his nonsense. I just want to get back to enjoying the ‘Net without hassle!

Now, I don’t even know what Step 1 is regarding losing a hacker. But I *absolutely will not stop until I do. Every day I feel stronger about this.

Thank You for your reply, scifan57!

You’re welcome.
A sure way of getting rid of that hacker is to erase your iPad and set it up as a new device with all new passwords.

 

[SPROINGY]

scifan57, Thank You for reply. To quote you, ‘A sure way of getting rid of that hacker is to erase your iPad and set it up as a new device with all new passwords.’

Well, I have used the ‘Erase all Content and Settings’ option twice within the past month or so, I restored my iPad once from a backup, once manually. Unfortunately it hasn’t stopped his access to my iPad.

I’ve been to the computer shop each day for the last 3 or 4, today I found he’d disabled my ability to sign out of my Apple ID (Settings->[Your Name]->Apple ID->Sign Out disabled with a message ‘Sign Out is not Available Due to Restrictions.’). I got it sorted out with help (complicated path involving Screentime), and now the hacker’s disabled it again.

I’d better write down the path this time; many steps!

He won’t win.

 

[scifan57]

Maybe he’s not getting into your accounts on the iPad but through your computer.

 

[SPROINGY]

scifan57
Well, I don’t have a computer- I have two iPads. The hacker and I were neighbors in the same guesthouse, having a friendly visit/chat in his room. That’s when he got his hands on my iPad. He had a fair bit of tech equipment with him- even his own router, a lot to take when traveling! Without my permission or knowledge, he connected my iPad to his router (and who knows what else!). At the time, I thought he was being nice; the guesthouse’s router is sometimes quite weak, so now I have his ‘backup’ router to stay online if the guesthouse router isn’t up to the job, and I assumed he didn’t tell me what he’d done as a form of politeness- sometimes people will do something nice for you/ help you, and keep quiet about it.

At that time, I didn’t know what he is.

I disconnected his router as soon as I found it connected to my iPad, several days later.

Speaking of the guesthouse’s lousy router, sometimes- *only* when playing a video game- I would disconnect my VPN to make the game run at proper speed. I believe(d) that if I were hacked, the hacker would only, on an Apple machine, have access to the app I was using at the time and no others. I have heard people say that the other apps are ‘sandbagged,’ meaning inaccessible to the hacker. Is there any truth to that? My experience suggests otherwise.

To conclude, I must make a choice: Do I try to find out *how* I was hacked and then remedy that as step 1 of restoring my machine and accounts? Or, do I just find a way to make my iPad inaccessible to him in the future?

The first choice sounds like a sensible starting point, although I’m not sure if it’s possible? The second choice- future oriented- may be easier to implement, if that’s the way to go.

Thank You for your reply, scifan57

 

[SPROINGY]

Further to this hacking issue, someone said I had some ‘junky software’ installed. I asked, “If that’s the case, why wouldn’t doing an ‘Erase all Content and Settings’ remove it?”

The answer was, “It depends how you reinstalled the device. Did you flash the IPSW and the NOR of the baseband or did you do a factory reset to purge installed apps and changed settings?

I’m guessing you did a factory reset, which has reset the settings of the firmware installed. It hasn’t reinstalled the firmware installed.

Malware uses various levels to target devices. They don’t necessarily have to work like an app that you would download from the App Store or somewhere else, install and then uninstall to clear it.

Rootkits often go as deep as possible, infecting hardware and bootloaders to enable re-infection even if the user does a factory reset or reinstalls the main operating system.”

Right now, this is beyond me. IPSW? NOR? baseband? Rootkits?

I just Erased all Content and Settings and restored, first time from a backup, second time manually. Nothing about “flashing the IPSW and the NOR of the baseband” or checking for malware or rootkits.

It’s complex for me. But if others can do it, so can I!

BTW, “I’m guessing you did a factory reset, which has reset the settings of the firmware installed. It hasn’t reinstalled the firmware installed.”

I don’t know the significance of reinstalling the firmware installed. What if I do?

Thanks!

 

[mountain-ash]

Sproingy, you have my sympathy. My father fell victim to a hacker a few years ago at age 80 and it shook him to the core. We are still dealing with it. Too much to tell, probably warrants its own thread.

My best guess is that they got hold of his cell phone first (though not physically). This is an extremely widespread occurrence nowadays, and is done with an inside man working at cell phone companies. Once you have access to someone’s cell number, you can take over things like gmail, provided the victim uses a cell number to change the gmail password. In other words, that one-time code they text you that is supposed to protect you instead becomes a backdoor for the attacker.

• If you use gmail, you might want to download everything now using Google Takeout. Dad was eventually locked out of his account — so was the hacker — and lost access to all his emails, spreadsheets, etc. I tried to work with Google over several weeks and they just weren’t interesed in helping us.

• Get in touch with your financial institutions and warn them about the situation. It’s not just about false charges. You may find loans are being taken out in your name, credit cards being applied for, Amazon purchases being made, etc.

• I was surprised to finally see on page three that you know your attacker. You should contact the guest house and the FBI and have this guy tracked down before he destroys many more lives. I can see from the date on your original post in this thread that a lot of damage has probably been done- hopefully you already took some of the steps above and just didn’t elaborate on them here.

Best of luck!

 

[SPROINGY]

mountain-ash, thank you very much.

I find that- hackers don’t just mess with your machine... They *really* mess your mind, too.

I’ll never look at people the same way. Make me feel like I don’t want to know people at all.