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Despite previous attempts to put the situation at rest, some iCloud users continue to experience spam calendar invitations, causing their calendars to be filled with random events.

iOS-Spam-Calendar-Feature.jpg

The situation received widespread coverage in 2016, where Apple said that it was "actively working to address this issue" by "identifying and blocking suspicious senders." Victims are targeted in various ways. The most common method is by receiving a normal iCloud calendar invitation through their calendar app.

Interacting with the invitation, including declining, accepting, or choosing "Maybe," lets the spammer know that the email is valid, so it can continue to be targeted.

Other users are targeted through web pop-ups on potentially malicious or adult websites. Apple has not publicly commented on what specific measures it has taken to solve the issue, but through a video posted by Apple Support, that has so far garnered more than 97,000 views, it has a solution.

The video advises that users, logically, unsubscribe from these spam calendars. The video doesn't offer any insight into what proactive measures users can take to not receive the invitations in the first place.



One measure that some users have found to be helpful is to redirect calendar invitations to their email, rather than an in-app calendar invitation. By redirecting invitations to their email, users can better manage and delete calendar invitations. For more detailed instructions, make sure to check out our how to.

Article Link: iCloud Users Continue to Be Plagued by Calendar Spam
Have never gotten such Mal-mail....and wouldn't 'click...subscribe' if I did! Usually known when a cal contact comes from a physician (dentist say) or sort. This is new to me. But: I have recently (past month or so ) received 'junk' iMessages. Two or three.....which after all of my years using iMessage is a first! Again, I simply deleted them without inquiry.
 
Apple really needs to fix this calendar and Photo sharing spam. Getting too many of these two.
 
(…) Even my non-tech-literate parents know to ignore/delete anything they don't recognise (eg. sms, we get a ton of spam SMS in my country, many form the carriers themselves).
They must still be careful when ignoring SMS messages, depending on their carriers processes: My sister recently got her line number transferred to a crook that then used if for 2 factor authentication with wire transfer sites. I think she ignored the SMS from the carrier telling that her phone number will be transferred to another carrier, thinking it was spam or scam. I'm still baffled though as why some carriers sends messages like this and not asking for a confirmation in response to their message to proceed. Because obviously they accepted bogus ID info for the request.
Well! Whatever. Sorry, a little(?) off topic, but maybe a useful reminder anyway?
 
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As I recall, this issue was tied to Siri suggestions... unless I am mistaking this issue for another one that was already "resolved" by Apple quite some time ago.

For that particular issue, Siri was "suggesting" invitations found in Mail and temporarily displaying them on the calendar, based on spam e-mails that the user received. That issue was resolved (as I recall) by going to System Preferences on the Mac, and then to Siri — Siri Suggestions & Privacy... and unchecking "Show Siri Suggestions in App."

siri_suggestions_macos_prefs.png


I'm not sure if this has an effect on the issue mentioned in this post, though... but it did come to mind.
 
This is news to me.
Yep not sure how it spreading unless it is spreading through iCloud that is syncing the calendar app from one device to other device.

If you you don’t use iCloud than you okay.

I don’t know how you can add entry to the calendar app with out opening the app. The web app, message app or email app or really any app should not have access to the calendar app.

The only thing that should have access is iCloud if you use syncing. So not sure what is going on here.
 
I’ve had this issue in the past. It’s not only tied to sketchy websites. I received spam calendar notices after email address leaks from various sites. There are ways to remove the calendar notices without notifying the sender but it was a bit of a headache a few years ago because my calendar would be full of unending daily spam calendar notices. Thankfully, no problems since after making the recommended iCloud setting changes.
You mean you use some email like Yahoo or Gmail and it got hacked and the hacker got your iCloud email for calendar or some thing?

Because I don't how Yahoo mail or Gmail could have read or write access to your calendar.
 
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Exactly, stay off the sketchy sites might help too.
Any web browser be it Safari, Firefox or Brave is sandbox and does not have read or write permission to other apps.

I have to say yes the first time for Firefox or Brave or Duckduckgo to allow me to save photoes of the web or upload photo.

So I don’t know how a web browser is getting read and write permission to access the calendar?
 
Oh, so you mean it's like Gmail detecting an event in Gmail and automatically add it to your calendar? I guess that would be a problem, but you can turn that feature off. Maybe iCloud doesn't have this switch?
That would be really terrible design if the calendar app was scanning your gmail and yahoo mail and outlook mail so on for events and adding it.
 
Or just sign up for every thing you can think of putting the spammers email. Subscribe to this and subscribe to that.
I have down that too by picking the most outrageous fetish sites plus another favourite thing to do is keep tapping forgot their password so their inbox will be filled with many e-mails asking them, 'To reset thier password to www.xmen.com , select this link.'
 
That would be really terrible design if the calendar app was scanning your gmail and yahoo mail and outlook mail so on for events and adding it.
This is (or perhaps was) actually a feature in macOS. Apple may have disabled it since Big Sur, or else patched the security issues, but Siri (if it was enabled) would scan your e-mails for calendar invites and then temporarily add them to your calendar, as I recall. Spammers took advantage of this to populate user calendars with all sorts of temporary invites, which they had to accept or decline (either of which would eventually reveal their e-mail address, if I remember correctly).

(The aforementioned issue was covered at length at https://www.chriswrites.com/how-to-stop-icloud-calendar-spam-on-your-mac-iphone-and-ipad/)
 
I say bring on the spam. When I'm spammed - I give it back three to ten fold. Once I was spammed and I just hammered the spammer for the next 30 minutes with all sorts of suggestive language.
I totally understand your frustration.

Wouldn't this also make you part of the problem, and not part of the solution?
Do you think that spamming a spammer in return will cause them to reform their errant behavior?

Just a few thoughts. Carry on.
 
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That would be really terrible design if the calendar app was scanning your gmail and yahoo mail and outlook mail so on for events and adding it.
It's a Gmail feature. But note that this is invitations of events, not calendar subscriptions.
Note the last point where you can disable the feature.
 
I say bring on the spam. When I'm spammed - I give it back three to ten fold. Once I was spammed and I just hammered the spammer for the next 30 minutes with all sorts of suggestive language.

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This usually won't hit the spammers.

Spam is sent via networks (botnets) through "hacked" accounts. Like the email account of people that entered their password on the wrong site. Or infected devices (like all those IoT crap. Now you get spammed and DDoSed by freakin smart fridges).
Maybe you feel better (I sometimes want to do the same) but you hit the "wrong" ones (I put wrong in quotes as it's also the actual account owner's fault for not keeping their accounts secure or getting their devices infected. They're not innocent to the problem)
 
I had these odd calendar events popping up in my calendar without having any clue where they came from. I’d say I am fairly aware of not accepting and clicking on things I don’t know where they come from, so it was strange for me.

The solution then was to create a new calendar (mine was named… “Spam”), and move these odd events to it, and then choose to not display said calendar. Worked like a charm and haven’t seen them since.
 
Oh, so you mean it's like Gmail detecting an event in Gmail and automatically add it to your calendar? I guess that would be a problem, but you can turn that feature off. Maybe iCloud doesn't have this switch?
That's more like sweeping under the rug than fixing the actual problem though.
 
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They must still be careful when ignoring SMS messages, depending on their carriers processes: My sister recently got her line number transferred to a crook that then used if for 2 factor authentication with wire transfer sites. I think she ignored the SMS from the carrier telling that her phone number will be transferred to another carrier, thinking it was spam or scam. I'm still baffled though as why some carriers sends messages like this and not asking for a confirmation in response to their message to proceed. Because obviously they accepted bogus ID info for the request.
Well! Whatever. Sorry, a little(?) off topic, but maybe a useful reminder anyway?
I don’t believe that, unless there was absolutely no verification done this wouldn’t happen.
 
It's you typical bait trap.. There would probably be ways to make it easier but nothing is gonna prevent a user to just 'click'
 
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