How to protect your iPhone from hackers

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, some iPhone thieves are exploiting a security setting known as a recovery lock, making it nearly impossible for owners to access their photos, messages, data, and more. Some victims say their bank accounts have been drained after thieves gained access to financial apps.

It's important to note, however, that this type of attack is very difficult to pull off. Essentially, a criminal would have to either observe an iPhone user entering their device's passcode—by looking over their shoulder in a public place, for example—or find a way to trick the device owner into sharing their passcode.

How to protect your iPhone from hackers - 1 — Currently, criminals have sophisticated methods to gain control of users' iPhones and permanently lock their devices. (Illustration photo)

Once they have the passcode, a thief can change the device's Apple ID, turn off “Find My iPhone” so the user can't track the phone's location, and then reset the recovery key, a complex 28-digit code meant to protect the owner from online hackers.

Apple requires this key to help reset defaults or regain access to an Apple ID, in an effort to increase user security, but if a thief changes it, the original owner will not have the new code and will be locked out of the account.

“We sympathize with those who have had this experience, and we take every attack on our users, no matter how rare, very seriously,” an Apple spokesperson told CNN . “We work tirelessly every day to protect our users’ accounts and data, and are always working on additional protections against emerging threats.”

On its website, Apple warns that “you are responsible for maintaining access to your trusted devices and recovery key. If you lose control of either, you could be permanently locked out of your account.”

Currently, there are a number of steps users can take to potentially protect themselves from losing access to their accounts and data.

Password protection

An Apple spokesperson told CNN that users can use Face ID or Touch ID when unlocking their phones in public to avoid revealing their passcode to anyone.

Users can also set longer passcodes that include letters and numbers to make them harder for bad guys to guess. Device owners should also change their passcodes immediately if they suspect someone has seen them.

Set secondary password

In the iPhone's Screen Time settings, owners can set restrictions on when children can use the device. This section also includes the option to set up a secondary password that any user must enter before they can successfully change their Apple ID.

Back up your phone regularly

Finally, users can protect themselves by regularly backing up their iPhone – via iCloud or iTunes – so they can restore their data in the event of a stolen iPhone. At the same time, users may want to consider storing important photos or other sensitive files and data in another cloud service, such as Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon Photos, or Dropbox.

This won't stop a bad guy from gaining access to the device, but it will limit some of the data loss consequences if it does happen.

Phuong Anh (Source: CNN)

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