Re: Are iPhones subject to ransomware attacks?

On 2024-03-15 19:11:11 +0000, <bp@www.zefox.net> said:

 A neighbor asked me for help with an iMac that had fallen victim to
a ransmomware attack ("this computer has been locked, call the number
below....").
 I'm left wondering if iPhones are subject to similar attacks, since
they offer most of the services found on desktop computers including
browsers. The subject computer was reasonably up-to-date and only a
couple years old. The hijack was during an attempt to connect to
MapQuest using the Safari browser. The screen seemed locked and I
didn't know how to recover control. Is there a force-restart- to-
safe-mode for iOS or MacOS?

For most Mac models these days just holding the power button down for a few seconds will force it to shutdown.
Right/control-clicking on the app's Dock icon or pressing Command-Option-Esc will allow you to force quit an individual crashed app that is no longer repsonding.

Are iPhones subject to similar attacks? If not, why?
 Thanks for reading, and apologies if this is a dumb question!
 bob prohaska

Ransomware and malware in general is extremely unlikely on MacOS or iPhone / iPad unless you purposely do something incredibly stupid. It's almsot certainly not going to happen by simply going to a legitimate website like MapQuest in a web browser. More likely it was just a fake advert pretending to be ransomware and it caused Safari to crash and stop repsonding.