iOS 10.3 Fixes Exploit That Caused iPhones to Repeatedly Dial 911

[6foot5foot]

That's what I want to know too, my iPhone 6 is running fine on iOS 9.3.5, I doubt jumping to 10 will do anything but slow it down and create bugs, of course, I will be happy to be told otherwise.

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable... I'd advise ANYONE to do this, and whilst you're about it, go and open your front door, leave it wide open when you go to bed, and then I would post ALL your personal and financial details, website & app logins to pastebin and put them on Twitter - may as well go all out. Next, install "TeamViewer" and call any "Indian Microsoft agents" you can find by Googling that phrase, and give them your TeamViewer ID, then naively hope they're honest and won't ruin your computer.

Yes, security updates and stability patches are for mugs - be scared and cautious and stay out of date, that's the spirit, and I am sure Steve Gibson of GRC.com will advise you of the same.

I won't add the redundant "sarcasm" tag, I think you got the point.


PS: Would you like some FREE flash drives? Let me know what OS you and your friends are running, and I'll send you as many as you like

PS!

Please accept my gift of a free gold mercedes, shipped direct to your door for a small £100 admin fee, by clicking here:

http://adf.ly/genuinefreegoldmercedescars

 

[WRChris]

Source for this alleged Android vulnerability? Nobody updates their Android phones? I call BS on this post.

http://androidvulnerabilities.org/all

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/android-distribution-news/amp/

That first site is difficult to read but it's pretty obvious there are a ton of vulnerabilities and the second uses data from google to show how many devices actually get updated to the latest software.

 

[C DM]

So it's now going to take longer to dial numbers — we can no longer do it automatically like before for legit purposes just because of this exploit? This is why we can't have nice things...

[EDIT to clarify]

Not really sure why/where that feature really existed or was actually used, but it's been the case for a while now that dialing a number would require a confirmation (at least when it was properly implemented). Whether or not something was exploited, as far as good usability goes, it doesn't really make that much sense to just start dialing a number simply by touching it in a message or a web site as people accidentally tap on on things all the time.

 

[Pattaya]

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable... I'd advise ANYONE to do this, and whilst you're about it, go and open your front door, leave it wide open when you go to bed, and then I would post ALL your personal and financial details, website & app logins to pastebin and put them on Twitter - may as well go all out. Next, install "TeamViewer" and call any "Indian Microsoft agents" you can find by Googling that phrase, and give them your TeamViewer ID, then naively hope they're honest and won't ruin your computer.

Yes, security updates and stability patches are for mugs - be scared and cautious and stay out of date, that's the spirit, and I am sure Steve Gibson of GRC.com will advise you of the same.

I won't add the redundant "sarcasm" tag, I think you got the point.


PS: Would you like some FREE flash drives? Let me know what OS you and your friends are running, and I'll send you as many as you like

PS!

Please accept my gift of a free gold mercedes, shipped direct to your door for a small £100 admin fee, by clicking here:

http://adf.ly/genuinefreegoldmercedescars

So I guess you updated and suffered problems, I'm sticking on 9.3.5.
I had a 3GS that became virtually unusable, a 4s that became slow as molasses because I updated to the final updates available, my 6 is running fine on 9.3.5, a lot of people who updated to 10 were asking how they could go back to 9, must be a reason for that, do I really want to slow the thing down, no.
Thanks for your input.

 

[now i see it]

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable

The fear mongering of "wide open security exploits" of iOS 9.3.5 are just that. There has never been one peep, one hint, one rumor that iOS 9.3.5 is "dangerous to use". It is a stable & finished OS. iOS 10.x is still a work in progress fixing bugs that fixed bugs that fixed bugs of earlier releases.
I'm still not convinced that bigger emojis are worth bogging down an iPhone that wasn't designed to run this OS... but can.

 

[C DM]

The fear mongering of "wide open security exploits" of iOS 9.3.5 are just that. There has never been one peep, one hint, one rumor that iOS 9.3.5 is "dangerous to use". It is a stable & finished OS. iOS 10.x is still a work in progress fixing bugs that fixed bugs that fixed bugs of earlier releases.
I'm still not convinced that bigger emojis are worth bogging down an iPhone that wasn't designed to run this OS... but can.

iOS 9 still has issues as well, they just haven't been addressed since iOS 9.3.5 days.

 

[macsrcool1234]

It only took 100 calls to bring down the 911 system?

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

Operator: "Hello, 911?"
Siri: "*pause* Let me find that for you"
Operator: "What?"
Siri: "Finding, please wait".

 

[mi7chy]

How about the exploit where anytime "17" or "18" is mentioned to Siri such as "set a timer for 17 minutes" it'll dial emergency number?

 

[I7guy]

How about the exploit where anytime "17" or "18" is mentioned to Siri such as "set a timer for 17 minutes" it'll dial emergency number?

Not an exploit.

 

[C DM]

How about the exploit where anytime "17" or "18" is mentioned to Siri such as "set a timer for 17 minutes" it'll dial emergency number?

What? Siri just says the timer for 17 (or 18) minutes and starts it. No emergency numbers involved or anything even remotely close to that.

 

[Rorosbutt]

"Surprise, Arizona" LOL

 

[imnotthewalrus]

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable... I'd advise ANYONE to do this, and whilst you're about it, go and open your front door, leave it wide open when you go to bed, and then I would post ALL your personal and financial details, website & app logins to pastebin and put them on Twitter - may as well go all out. Next, install "TeamViewer" and call any "Indian Microsoft agents" you can find by Googling that phrase, and give them your TeamViewer ID, then naively hope they're honest and won't ruin your computer.

Yes, security updates and stability patches are for mugs - be scared and cautious and stay out of date, that's the spirit, and I am sure Steve Gibson of GRC.com will advise you of the same.

I won't add the redundant "sarcasm" tag, I think you got the point.


PS: Would you like some FREE flash drives? Let me know what OS you and your friends are running, and I'll send you as many as you like

PS!

Please accept my gift of a free gold mercedes, shipped direct to your door for a small £100 admin fee, by clicking here:

http://adf.ly/genuinefreegoldmercedescars

did we have a bad day? your 'redundant "sarcasm" tag' may actually have been useful, because your post just came off as mean-spirited.

 

[nwcs]

It only took 100 calls to bring down the 911 system?

It said overwhelmed, not taken down. Also it occurred in just a few minutes which would saturate the number of lines available on their PBX or switch. Plus each one has to be individually investigated. So, yes, 100 hangups within a few minutes would have a profound impact.

 

[Pow!]

With the iOS 10.3 update, iPhones always require secondary confirmation before automatically calling a number

I'm on 10.2.1 and always get the confirmation alert when tapping a phone number in Safari.

 

[C DM]

I'm on 10.2.1 and always get the confirmation alert when tapping a phone number in Safari.

I believe that's when it's properly implemented which has been the case throughout iOS for the most part. It seems that prior to iOS 10.3 there was a way to tweak that in some circumstances to bypass it, which is likely what was was abused and what was fixed.

 

[zone23]

I didn't thin it dialed 911 I thought it dial another number that was for a different country emergency but then would get transferred to 911 in the united states.

 

[ptb42]

There was a very unfortunate case recently in the Dallas area where a child died when 911 couldn't be reached due to massive #'s of calls being made in to the system and it couldn't keep up. Hold times for 911 response were at times as much as 45 mim... Related?

No, those "ghost" calls were reportedly coming from a single carrier: T-Mobile.

The problem had been occurring for some time, and the city and T-Mobile were investigating. But, I haven't heard if there was an actual resolution.

 

[Xirian]

No, those "ghost" calls were reportedly coming from a single carrier: T-Mobile.

The problem had been occurring for some time, and the city and T-Mobile were investigating. But, I haven't heard if there was an actual resolution.

It turned out there was no issue with t-mobile and the 911 center was understaffed causing people to hang up and try again after being on hold forever.

 

[Jayson A]

iOS has always popped up a confirmation before dialing a number from a web page. Am I missing something?

 

[C DM]

iOS has always popped up a confirmation before dialing a number from a web page. Am I missing something?

Potentially this:

I believe that's when it's properly implemented which has been the case throughout iOS for the most part. It seems that prior to iOS 10.3 there was a way to tweak that in some circumstances to bypass it, which is likely what was was abused and what was fixed.

 

[Jayson A]

Potentially this:

Thanks

 

[Casfin]

So is it time to jump from 9.3.5 on an ip6 to 10.3 or not? There's no going back...

I'm still on 9.3.5 on my 6s plus. Sticking with it for now as well. Unimpressed with 10 and the issues it causes on people around me who have upgraded.

And bugs aside I hate what Apple did with iMessage and the music app. So, yea... Pass.
[doublepost=1490990899][/doublepost]

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable... I'd advise ANYONE to do this, and whilst you're about it, go and open your front door, leave it wide open when you go to bed, and then I would post ALL your personal and financial details, website & app logins to pastebin and put them on Twitter - may as well go all out. Next, install "TeamViewer" and call any "Indian Microsoft agents" you can find by Googling that phrase, and give them your TeamViewer ID, then naively hope they're honest and won't ruin your computer.

Yes, security updates and stability patches are for mugs - be scared and cautious and stay out of date, that's the spirit, and I am sure Steve Gibson of GRC.com will advise you of the same.

I won't add the redundant "sarcasm" tag, I think you got the point.


PS: Would you like some FREE flash drives? Let me know what OS you and your friends are running, and I'll send you as many as you like

PS!

Please accept my gift of a free gold mercedes, shipped direct to your door for a small £100 admin fee, by clicking here:

http://adf.ly/genuinefreegoldmercedescars

Your tin foil hat is on too tight me thinks.

 

[ackmondual]

I think it's a superb idea to stay with an outdated OS, leaving yourself wide open to security exploits and vulnerable... I'd advise ANYONE to do this, and whilst you're about it, go and open your front door, leave it wide open when you go to bed, ....

It's more like replace your door with a new one, that's very unusable because it requires you to turn the key into 12 different locking mechanisms, rather than just sticking with the old door that still works just fine.

 

[C DM]

It's more like replace your door with a new one, that's very unusable because it requires you to turn the key into 12 different locking mechanisms, rather than just sticking with the old door that still works just fine.

The analogies just get less and less applicable.