iPad malware ?

[fly boy3]

I have an eight year old iPad that's giving me trouble and needs replacing soon. Very recently I have recieved what I think is malware or a scam. "Your phone is infected click here " also " you have won a prize" I cannot up date my iPad due to its age. Could old age of my iPad be the reason fot this ? I am taking great care not to click on anything I think is dodgy.

[MattyB]

How did you receive this message? If via email, any other messaging service or browser pop-up just ignore it, it’s a phishing attempt. If it’s a native message presented by iOS (highly unlikely) you may want to do a full reset of the device to get it back to factory defaults, after validating any assets on it are suitably preserved of course.

[fly boy3]

Hi Matty B, no, not by email, but message appears as soon as iPad is switched on before home page appears. It's quite worrying at my age. I have been told my iPad is on its last legs and I should invest in a new one lol.

[MattyB]

Just make sure everything is backed up to the cloud then and do a full factory reset. Instructions here...

Ps - I have an iPad of similar age, it’s not the cutting edge but if all your are doing is web browsing and a few simple apps it is perfectly fine; no need to buy a new one. You may however want to check how much of the storage is remaining and clear out any unused apps and assets - as iOS has grown it leaves less space for those, and I’ve found the device can slow dramatically as it nears capacity, presumably because of the way iOS uses the storage as virtual memory.

Edited By MattyB on 27/09/2020 10:31:02

[fly boy3]

Thanks Matty, if I can do this it will save me money so I can spend it on modelling lol. Cheers ps I have put pics on the cloud already.

[Keith Miles 2]

Some good advice from MattyB.

The combination of “your phone is infected” and “you have won a prize”, especially the latter, should certainly ring the alarm bells.

I’m definitely no expert, but I do have an I-pad albeit without a SIM card.

First thing that I would do is remove the SIM card and see if the problem message went away.

If it did, I would then try an update of IOS with the SIM card removed and, perhaps, even a reset.

I might then put the SIM card back and see what happens and, unless intent on buying a new I-pad for other reasons, replace the SIM card if necessary.

I assume that the “your I-pad is on its last legs” comment was not contained in a similar message or made by a retailer?

 

 

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 27/09/2020 11:28:56

[fly boy3]

Hi Keith, "on its last legs" was my comment as I am having many minor problems such as freezing, pages often being re loaded due to a problem and so forth. Don't know where "your iPhone is infected" message came from as I do not have a smart phone leave alone an i phone lol. Could well take up Matty,s advice to go back to factory settings when I can pluck up some courage. As they say "age does not come alone". Cheers

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy3,

If the message was “I-phone” not “phone” as you stated originally, then that is puzzling because I would have thought that IOS would know the difference between an I-pad and an I-phone!

So, there is no SIM card in your I-pad, then, and you only use your home Wi-Fi? Is that correct?

[MattyB]

Posted by fly boy3 on 27/09/2020 12:17:10:

Hi Keith, "on its last legs" was my comment as I am having many minor problems such as freezing, pages often being re loaded due to a problem and so forth.

As per my post above those kind of issues often occur when the available free storage on the iPad gets low (I.e. anything less that ~1Gb, but having 2Gb free is probably optimal). Go to Settings, General, storage and delete any large apps you no longer use; that should improve performance. Having said that if you are resetting to factory settings all apps and data will be removed anyway.

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3,

Totally agree with all that MattyB has posted.

I just checked my six year old (at least) I-Pad Mini and of its advertised 16GB capacity, 7GB is taken up by IOS (the operating system) leaving only 9GB for apps and files (photos, videos, etc.). Currently, I have 4.5GB spare.

It is not uncommon for buyers, especially the less technically aware (me, for one!), to fail to realise this when deciding how much memory they require and such information is rarely, if ever, clearly displayed or advertised.

On the matter of being unable to update, I would have thought that you would get a warning of low memory if that was the cause of a failure or inability to update IOS. I could be wrong, though.

As MattyB suggests, you will find a list of all items under Settings/General/I-Pad Storage and the amount of memory being taken up by each item. If you don’t already know what your I-Pad memory is you will find that as well under Settings/General/About.

Do get back to us if you need any further assistance.

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 27/09/2020 16:36:16

[fly boy3]

Hi Keith thanks for your help. My mistake, the comment states "Your phone is is infected" no mention of I phone. Re updating,I assume updating rerfered to iOS ? My version is shown as 9.3.5. I also have 4.4Gb available. Photos 645 are taking up the most storage. What is the most recent iOS ? Cheers ps other times it states "your phone may be infected. Otherwise the problems are minor.  Upadate my latest message reads "remove possible infections on your iPhone, protect your data today". This one does mention iPhone which I do not posses.  Could this be classed as phishing ?  As Matty suggested, I may have to go back to factory settings to stop this irritating non sense

Edited By fly boy3 on 27/09/2020 17:39:34

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3,

The “phone” reference is very odd. The Apple IOS system is renowned for being pretty robust compared to other systems, e.g. Android or Windows. I was just guessing that you might have a SIM card fitted, based on the “phone” reference.

Yes, by updating, I assumed that you meant IOS not a new I-Pad!

My IOS version is 12.4.8.

A reset might be worthwhile but as MattyB points out, you will erase stuff unless you first back it up to another server, Cloud being possibly the easiest option although their are others including transferring to PC via I-Tunes. I’ve never backed up an I-pad so will not risk offering advice on that but imagine it would be easy to do. As for the apps, you could always make a note of each and get them again later from the Apple Store.

Finally, it sounds like you have sufficient memory to rule that out as a reason for the slow down so, it could, indeed be an infection or a failing processor.

If it refuses to update again, seems that a reset is your next option with the aforementioned caution in mind.

Again, I’ve never done a reset but I believe that you use the little probe supplied, or something similar, to push the little button on the side of the case.

Don’t spend several hundred quid just yet!

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3,

One other consideration, I just remembered, regarding “slow downs” is your WiFi connection.

I can recommend downloading the very popular “Speedtest” from Ookla.

Both my phone and I-Pad seemed very slow recently. A test showed that my download speed had dropped to a mere 2Gb over WiFi instead of being in the three figures that I pay for!

Switching off the router for a few seconds and then giving it a few minutes after switching back on to fully reset itself, and normal service was resumed!

This is not an uncommon issue, apparently.

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 27/09/2020 18:29:09

[Keith Miles 2]

My apologies, Fun Boy 3, I just noted that you have apparently already backed up your data, so ignore that bit of my post!

[fly boy3]

Hi Keith, I think I have only backed my photos. Shame really as I have always used my iPad rather my laptop to purchase items on line due to Apples inherent safety. I am having second thought now. Thanks for yours and Matty B,s help. ps due to the fact that my iOS is old, I wondered if this is making my iPad susceptible to modern threats ?

Edited By fly boy3 on 27/09/2020 20:53:25

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3.

One of the reasons, of course, for keeping operating systems updated is to combat viruses and malware!

Does seem that, for some reason, your IOS is waaay out of date if the number of my version is anything to go by!

After a full reset, if you don’t receive an automatic alert to update, you should be able to update manually in “Settings”.

As you have a laptop in reserve to use, don’t give up just yet!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that “Speedtest” for checking your Wi-Fi speed, is a FREE download and safe to use! Worth putting it on both your laptop and (eventually) your I-pad.

I’m going flying with my brother-in-law in the morning. He knows his stuff on these issues, so I’ll see what he thinks about your problem and get back to you.

Keep the faith!

By the way, did you try “Googling” your problem? 

Just had a quick look, lots of ideas on the Internet which might help, also confirming that infections of IOS are very rare.

 

 

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 28/09/2020 00:19:33

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3,

Just before I head off to the field, and at the risk of asking you a silly question.....

I take it that you always close your apps, especially your internet browser (e.g. Safari) before switching off your I-pad?

[fly boy3]

Hi Keith, I did use google, it said using iOS will prevent a virus, but malware is possible. My speed is fine 24mbs. Not sure if I close apps, Safari etc, I have always pressed button on bottom of iPad, sometime the one on top ? Thanks for your help, don't think your brother in law can provide much more than you have. Have a nice day at the field, and may your landings be like a butterfly with bad feet lol. Cheers

[MattyB]

Posted by Keith Miles 2 on 28/09/2020 09:17:36:

Fly Boy 3,

Just before I head off to the field, and at the risk of asking you a silly question.....

I take it that you always close your apps, especially your internet browser (e.g. Safari) before switching off your I-pad?

There's actually little or no advantage to doing that on iOS systems because of the way they handle multi-tasking, which is quite different to how a Windows PC does it. Basically the current state of any app onscreen is dumped to solid state storage, then removes it from the RAM to free that up for the next live app. When theapp is clicked on again it is re-injected into the RAM and off you go at the same point.

* Only a very small number of apps are able to run in the background (music player for instance, and I guess the Bluetooth handshake part of the new NHS Covid app!). Shutting these down will free up some memory, but generally it isn't a problem.

[fly boy3]

Thanks Keith and Matty B. Slightly off topic, what is correct procedure in closing apps and websites etc with Windows 10. Cheers

[MattyB]

Just make sure you reboot reasonably often - Windows apps tend to be pretty lax with resources, often hogging them after closure. Take a look t the task manager every now and again to see what is running (you may be surprised) and reboot at least every third day or so, or whenever you feel things are slowing down.

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3.

With reference to your recent post regarding switching on/ off and closing apps.

Yes, there is an on/off push button on mine, it is on the edge of the I-pad diagonally opposite the “Home” button on the face of the I-pad. This switch will switch off the I-pad but it will not close any apps left open.

I fitted mine, however, with a cover which switches the I-pad on and off when it is opened or closed, so I never use the button.

To close apps on mine, with the “Home” screen showing, I “double-click” the “Home” button on the front face. This changes the display to show opened apps. I can then place a finger on each opened app displayed and “swipe” each off the screen to close them.

If all apps are closed before you switch off, switching back on should then bring up the “Home” screen immediately and, hopefully, no warning about your phone being infected! If not the “intruder” probably is in the operating system (IOS).

So, to summarise...

Close all apps before switching off, then switch back on to see if the “infected phone” problem has gone. If so, the problem is in an app (probably Safari or another browser if you have one) and not IOS.

That said, provided you have your wanted files backed up and you’ve made a note of the apps that you have, I would do a “soft” reset first, and if necessary a “hard” reset before then trying an update of IOS.

There is much info on line about how to perform resets or any other task that you wish to perform.

Brother-in-law says it IS possible that your I-pad may be too old to fully update but agrees, as MattyB has said, that this may be no big deal if you only use your device for basic stuff.

If, of course, IOS is infected and you can’t cure it with a reset or update, then you may have to spend some cash!

As for Windows, all I know is that when I shut down my PC, without closing a program, unlike my I-pad, it always boots back into “Home” screen, although it may, if I remember correctly, give an alert if a program has been left running. Ignoring the alert, however, doesn’t prevent shut down or affect reboot. As MattyB suggests, it might cause a program to run in the background but it certainly doesn’t affect what comes up on the screen as an I-pad does.

Finally, you said your Internet speed was 2Mbs? Are you sure? By modern standards, that seems extremely slow to me!

In an earlier post, I mentioned a very noticeable recent slowing down of my I-pad and Android phone over Wi-Fi. I ran “Speedtest” and it reported 2.81Mbs Download/20.9 Upload. Rebooting the router fixed the issue.

If your figure is correct, it would certainly explain your reported slow downs!

I just ran another test on the I-pad, over Wi-Fi, and it just reported 128Mbs Download/15.7Mbs Upload.

Looking at past results, I’ve had it as high as 147Mbs Download with an average “low” performance above 70!

That 2.81 was VERY noticeable!

 

 

 

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 28/09/2020 19:49:53

[fly boy3]

Thanks all for your help. I will have a good read and make some big decisions soon and I will report back. I think you miss read my internet speed Keith. It's 24 mbs. As I live S.Wales we are in lock down at the moment, so Ican find time to sort it, but. I would rather be flying. Take care

[Keith Miles 2]

Fly Boy 3.

OOOPS! I should have gone to Specsavers.

Oh, and it seems that I was also wrong about 2Mb. Seems it is still fairly common and supposedly adequate for most purposes, most of the time, depending on how many are connected to a given hub, and how many are using it at a given time!

As I said, though, when mine went down to that level, Safari was taking so long to load a page, I could have gone and made a cup of tea and a sandwich!

Apparently the service providers sometimes switch things to meet demand, presumably hoping that the “losers” don’t notice!

Sorry that you’re in lockdown but, as you say, it might be an opportunity to sort a few things out, or maybe do some decorating? Aaaargh!

[fly boy3]

Thanks Keith, decorating !!! At my age my daughters have banned me from all step ladders, triple extension ladders, even stools lol As they are so busy I have to pay people to do jobs I have done for over sixty years maintaining my home. The only decorating I do now is covering my models which I love. Keep safe