I'm really concerned because my wife's iPhone seems to have been hacked. It appears that someone is mirroring her device and has gained full control over her accounts. Despite resetting her passwords and enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), the hacker keeps changing everything back. We've already contacted Apple support multiple times, filed a police report, and reported it to the FBI's cyber crimes unit, but nothing seems to work. Her phone settings are often altered without her doing anything, and it feels like the hacker is monitoring her activity. We're considering getting her a new Android phone since it seems like Apple can't acknowledge or resolve this situation. What are our best steps here? Should we just factory reset her phone or is it time to get rid of it completely?
5 Answers
Even though you're dealing with an Apple device, the general principles hold true for any OS. Make sure to gain control of your Apple ID and kick out any unidentified devices. It's also a good idea to refresh or block any accounts that were accessed via the compromised phone.
This is a tough situation! If the hacker is still getting into her accounts, it might be best to switch to an Android phone for peace of mind along with using strong, unique passwords and 2FA for each account. That should help keep things secure in the future.
Reset the iPhone and change your home WiFi password as well. If she has a MacBook or Windows PC at home, consider resetting those too, just to be safe.
Make sure to perform a factory reset and secure her accounts, especially those associated with the phone. Use another device if you can to change passwords and set up 2FA. Remember to secure any other accounts that could have been accessed through her iPhone too.
Definitely try a factory reset on the iPhone as it might clear out any unwanted malware. After that, change the passwords for all accounts that were accessed from the device. Make sure to enable 2FA on important accounts as well. Just be careful to check that there’s no one else with access to her Apple ID before setting everything back up.
Thanks for the advice! We're currently dealing with some restrictions on her phone, so it might take a bit before we can do the factory reset.
We've considered it! But it’s frustrating because the hacker appears to have messed with the phone itself, maybe through a SIM swap or something. I just want to protect my wife from this situation.