Serious Security Breach of my iPad 9

[brianfoster99]

Is it possible for a hacker group to make a directional attack and gain complete control to an iPad with iPadOS 15.7? How good would they have to be to be successful in this case?

OBS: I don't use Jailbreak and as soon as I bought it I updated the iPad 9.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

It is little to impossible for someone to even gain accesses of your iPad. Even without the fancy antivirus or firewall that you can download to get extra protection. If you truly feel like your security is danger, that should definitely be a police case. Especially if they are accessing credit card or drivers license information. Since you don’t know if those anonymous messages are real, you don’t have much to worry about. Just be careful and watch for abnormal things such as these:

Webcam being constantly accessed when not in use

Apps randomly starting without your consent

Random battery drains

Apps there were used without your knowledge

Hopefully you get this figured out.

 

[HDFan]

Is it possible for a hacker group to make a directional attack and gain complete control to an iPad with iPadOS 15.7? How good would they have to be to be successful in this case?

Some anonymous twitter and youtube users are giving me hints as if they know everything that is happening on the screen, not only on my iPad, but on my Xiaomi and notebook c windows, both updated and only with safe software and apps, including antivirus premium.
I believe it's a police case, given the seriousness of the crime against my privacy.

Hints suggest a scam. If they are posting actual information that would be impossible for them to guess then it might be worth investigating. Likely didn't come from your iPad.

 

[brianfoster99]

Hints suggest a scam. If they are posting actual information that would be impossible for them to guess then it might be worth investigating. Likely didn't come from your iPad.

Why is the iPad different? Could they use a zero-day exploit (a flaw unknown to Apple) to gain remote access?
The amazing thing is that the only thing hackers could get from me would be my whatsapp number i used on my Xiaomi, so could they somehow get my ip and get into my network with that information?
I'm a layman in the field, but some IT experts say that any group of smart hackers could break into any device with a targeted attack, just by knowing the ip address.

 

[brianfoster99]

Thanks. As for the items you mentioned, everything is in order. I decided to download an app called Device Monitor that supposedly shows the amount of data downloaded in real time, in addition to the CPU, ram memory and others. And it seems to me that there is nothing abnormal, but still I am afraid that there is something that can manipulate this data.
Sorry for the well-founded paranoia.

It is little to impossible for someone to even gain accesses of your iPad. Even without the fancy antivirus or firewall that you can download to get extra protection. If you truly feel like your security is danger, that should definitely be a police case. Especially if they are accessing credit card or drivers license information. Since you don’t know if those anonymous messages are real, you don’t have much to worry about. Just be careful and watch for abnormal things such as these:

Webcam being constantly accessed when not in use

Apps randomly starting without your consent

Random battery drains

Apps there were used without your knowledge

Hopefully you get this figured out.

 

[kitKAC]

Why is the iPad different? Could they use a zero-day exploit (a flaw unknown to Apple) to gain remote access?
The amazing thing is that the only thing hackers could get from me would be my whatsapp number i used on my Xiaomi, so could they somehow get my ip and get into my network with that information?
I'm a layman in the field, but some IT experts say that any group of smart hackers could break into any device with a targeted attack, just by knowing the ip address.

Zero-days are usually used by specialist companies to create malware used by governments to target specific groups of people, they wouldn't use them against low-value targets as once it's discovered and patched, it's worthless. If you were someone that discovered a zero-day, you'd sell it to one of those companies for a lot of money.

Hackers can't break into any device by knowing an IP address, there has to be a way in (usually by a poorly configurated firewall or something) and then they still need someone's credentials to access the target system to be able to do any damage.

What concrete evidence have these Twitter/YouTube users given you that they have access to your devices?

 

[HDFan]

Why is the iPad different? Could they use a zero-day exploit (a flaw unknown to Apple) to gain remote access?

Not impossible, but highly unlikely as stated above. An individual is not a high value target that is worth the time investment. I don't remember any reports of iPads being compromised. There are things you should do to ensure your security. This article is about iPhones, but applies to iPads and other devices as well.

Can an iPhone Be Hacked?

An iPhone can be hacked. iPhones are less vulnerable than Android, but there are ways around Apple’s security to make hacking possible. Good digital

www.security.org

 

[Mr.Blacky]

What are those hints?

 

[LV426]

It is little to impossible for someone to even gain accesses of your iPad.

One way is to fool the user into installing a remote control app. Phone scammers often use this method to gain complete control, usually under the pretext of helping the user out because their bank account has been compromised (according to them). Needless to say, you should never accept unsolicited "help" like this over the phone, but it's used to swindle thousands of victims every day.

 

[antiprotest]

It is likely a scam. The real hack comes when you believe them and start to comply with their demands.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

It's not "well-founded paranoia." Paranoia is never well-founded, by definition. Paranoia is an un-reasoned fear. Different people are fearful of different things, and fear of the unknown/unknowable is easy to provoke. It doesn't matter whether it's a fear of ghosts or vampires, hackers, people different than yourself, or technology...

Scammers/con artists play on fear to motivate people to the action they desire. "Your computer is infected/your account has been disabled!!! Call this number/click this link immediately!!!" If you get a communication of some sort and it speaks to your fears then you are likely to act. If it does not speak to your fears then you tend to ignore it as a possible scam.

Apparently, the OP has a fear of hackers (and like most people, insufficient knowledge of the technologies they use). The only question will be... will they reply to those texts and inadvertently disclose information useful to the scammers (any reply at all confirms the address the scammers used has a real person at the other end - the fish has bitten on the bait)? Will they then succumb to a ransom demand? Or have they fallen for a prank, the only purpose of which was to make them spend hours/days/$$$ on addressing a false claim? "OOOH, we really got him! Isn't this fun?!"

Hacking requires an investment of significant time and effort, and a high level of technical knowledge. It is therefore employed against targets that will pay a rich reward.

Scamming is very cheap - just tell a well-crafted story to the right target. It plays on human nature, which barely changes. The techniques are age-old, only the specifics of the scammers' stories change over time in order to remain relevant/believable to the potential victims.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

@brianfoster99 you seem to have deleted all the pertinent information from your OP. This now brings your post, the current or future replies out of context.

 

[kitKAC]

Post #3 still contains the original post.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Post #3 still contains the original post.

Yup, that's how I knew there was more to it. Many though don't even read previous posts, let alone a quoted reply. Suppose the OP had their reason for changing this mid flight.

 

[I7guy]

There are multiple methods to get into computing devices. From zero day to phishing attacks. It is possible. There is a non-zero probability of this happening. Because something is possible doesn’t mean it’s probable.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

There are multiple methods to get into computing devices. From zero day to phishing attacks. It is possible. There is a non-zero probability of this happening. Because something is possible doesn’t mean it’s probable.

(Emphasis added above.) Completely true, all sorts of things are both possible and highly improbable. However, due to a human tendency to attribute unexpected (although not inexplicable) phenomena to supernatural/exotic causes, and the human tendency to believe that "I am special," probability is usually ignored.

Of course, there's also the possibility that rationality is a delusion.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Is it possible…

No.