Pretty sure I have had a major hack

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Pretty sure I have had a major hack

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1875710 1-Oct-2017 20:45

Rikkitic:

I don't think anyone else has said it so far so I will. You have my utmost sympathy. This is a really crappy thing to have happen. It shouldn't have to happen. I don't know if you were sloppy with your security or not. I don't know if this is somehow your fault or not. I don't know if you could have prevented it or not. But regardless of all that, it is a really lousy thing and I am sorry for you. Losing all your stuff is no joke. There might be important work there, or irreplaceable personal things, or just notes and data important to you that you will never be able to fully reconstruct. You shouldn't have to go through this. You didn't deserve it.

When you are suffering, it doesn't make you feel better to have others tell you all the things with wisdom of hindsight that you should have done. What you need now is help to repair the damage as much as possible. I wish I had that expertise but unfortunately Apple is not an area I know much about. But you have my sympathy. I hope you can find an acceptable way to fix this. Good luck.

Thank you for your kind words It was a very unpleasenet experince no matter how much I try to rationalise it.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1875723 1-Oct-2017 21:05

Well a day I do not want to repeat anytime soon

Firstly Thanks to all the concerned ones who offerded suggestions.

In the end

At preent My watches are back working my iphone after a hard reset is running My ipad pro wasnt affected as I had just finsished wiping it ready for sale

My Imac ned to go to the store for what did he call it... Firmware reset?

If you do have something like this happen to you I hope you get a chap Called Carter in melbourne who spent hours with me sorting it out

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

dfnt

1553 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1036

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1875724 1-Oct-2017 21:10

Bit of a shame they can't do anything remotely on the Mac

On reading other forums it seems that anyone affected by this had to take their Mac into Apple Stores to get fixed

Quic referral link https://account.quic.nz/refer/276294 free setup code R276294EBWOBK

ANglEAUT

altered-ego
2436 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 842

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1875779 2-Oct-2017 00:06

Yeah, sorry to hear this happened. You haven't mentioned yet if you have control of your iCloud account again. Considering this is a public forum, they most likely now also know about your LastPass account. My advice:

If you still can, change your LastPass password to something unique and very strong.
1. Review your Trusted devices
2. Review your mobile devices
3. Change every password for accounts saved in LastPass
4. If you have credit card info stored in LastPass, get new CC's
If you still have access to your iCloud account, change the password and review trusted devices.
1. If you have any CC's stored in ApplePay or for the Apple store, get them changed
2. Review your bank statements for the CC's over the next week.
Strongly consider the options of 2FA going forward.
Review the security options of your spouse / partner / significant other.
Consider if you want to notify people in your contact list that your devices were compromised.
I hope you have backups for those devices that have been reset.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1875910 2-Oct-2017 09:41

Sorry to hear about your troubles Graham..

Won't help with the recovery, but in the interests of helping prevent future issues.

Consider using a password manager (e.g. Lastpass), as it's the only practical way to let you have a unique password for each thing you login too. You can further improve this by also using a unique email address for everything, most domain hosting allows catchall rules so you effectively have unlimited aliases. I generally use nameofwebsite@mydomain for everything, in conjunction with a unique 30+ character random password.

Also 2FA on Lastpass, and important services (e.g. Banking, Email, etc)

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1876266 2-Oct-2017 17:06

IcI:

Yeah, sorry to hear this happened. You haven't mentioned yet if you have control of your iCloud account again. Considering this is a public forum, they most likely now also know about your LastPass account. My advice:

If you still can, change your LastPass password to something unique and very strong.

Review your Trusted devices
Review your mobile devices
Change every password for accounts saved in LastPass
If you have credit card info stored in LastPass, get new CC's

If you still have access to your iCloud account, change the password and review trusted devices.

If you have any CC's stored in ApplePay or for the Apple store, get them changed
Review your bank statements for the CC's over the next week.

Strongly consider the options of 2FA going forward.
Review the security options of your spouse / partner / significant other.
Consider if you want to notify people in your contact list that your devices were compromised.
I hope you have backups for those devices that have been reset.

The wonderful security tec in melbourne secured my icloud account and password was changed

same with last pass

I have been changeing various aaccount apssswords and email addresss

I was surprised that the imac couldnt be fixed online or through instruction

Noels' want $249 to do the job

I am reaching out to the Apple Guy as he said if I have any issues (like $249) he may be able to "do something"

Thanks for you r info and advice

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

Sam91

620 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 183

#1876279 2-Oct-2017 17:30

So if someone gains access to your iCloud account, they can then put your device into lost mode and set a pin of their choice. Even if you gain control of your iCloud account again, you can't simply take the device out of lost mode or change the pin. Seems slightly flawed to me.

By the way, after reading this thread I decided to step up my Apple security. I went change my password, and I was asked two security questions to proceed. I couldn't remember either of them, so I clicked reset security questions, and just like that I was able to reset them on the spot. So what was the point in asking me those security questions if I could just reset them anyway.

kyhwana2

2572 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 233

#1876287 2-Oct-2017 17:46

gnfb:

I was surprised that the imac couldnt be fixed online or through instruction

Noels' want $249 to do the job

I am reaching out to the Apple Guy as he said if I have any issues (like $249) he may be able to "do something"

Thanks for you r info and advice

It's a base firmware lock, they're abusing the "I've lost my mac/it's been stolen" thing. Imagine if someone stole your mac and could do it online/etc.

Any apple authorised repair shop should be able to do it for you, probably not for free, as it is a hassle, but $249 is pretty steep. I'd expect ~$100 or so.. (It won't be free)

rphenix

990 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 127

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1876291 2-Oct-2017 18:18

If your lastpass account had your primary email account credentials saved - dont forget to first login and check there is no filtering/forwarding rules turned on sending copies of email elsewhere then reset the password, review app permissions if using something gmail and revoke anything you dont recognise.

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1876324 2-Oct-2017 20:19

rphenix:

If your lastpass account had your primary email account credentials saved - dont forget to first login and check there is no filtering/forwarding rules turned on sending copies of email elsewhere then reset the password, review app permissions if using something gmail and revoke anything you dont recognise.

I cant see anything saying filtering/forwarding rules there are sharing abilities but none are turned on is this waht you mean?

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1876325 2-Oct-2017 20:23

kyhwana2:
gnfb:

I was surprised that the imac couldnt be fixed online or through instruction

Noels' want $249 to do the job

I am reaching out to the Apple Guy as he said if I have any issues (like $249) he may be able to "do something"

Thanks for you r info and advice

It's a base firmware lock, they're abusing the "I've lost my mac/it's been stolen" thing. Imagine if someone stole your mac and could do it online/etc. Any apple authorised repair shop should be able to do it for you, probably not for free, as it is a hassle, but $249 is pretty steep. I'd expect ~$100 or so.. (It won't be free)

You chaps will most likely scream at me for this but I did have a quick look around youtube.

You are correct it seems they have used the "EFI" lock . There are various service offering to resolve this after yos send them "The hash code" I dont know if this sounds to kosher?

But I will ask anyway are there any service like this in NZ?

Because other than producing this binary thing it seems pretty staright forward

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1876575 3-Oct-2017 10:58

kyhwana2:
gnfb:

I was surprised that the imac couldnt be fixed online or through instruction

Noels' want $249 to do the job

I am reaching out to the Apple Guy as he said if I have any issues (like $249) he may be able to "do something"

Thanks for you r info and advice

It's a base firmware lock, they're abusing the "I've lost my mac/it's been stolen" thing. Imagine if someone stole your mac and could do it online/etc. Any apple authorised repair shop should be able to do it for you, probably not for free, as it is a hassle, but $249 is pretty steep. I'd expect ~$100 or so.. (It won't be free)

Service plus are down to $139 but i have to physically walk in with it with photo id apparently Fortunately the machine isnt mission critical so happy to shop around

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

Paparangi

166 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 67

#1876577 3-Oct-2017 11:05

gnfb:
kyhwana2:
gnfb:

I was surprised that the imac couldnt be fixed online or through instruction

Noels' want $249 to do the job

I am reaching out to the Apple Guy as he said if I have any issues (like $249) he may be able to "do something"

Thanks for you r info and advice

It's a base firmware lock, they're abusing the "I've lost my mac/it's been stolen" thing. Imagine if someone stole your mac and could do it online/etc. Any apple authorised repair shop should be able to do it for you, probably not for free, as it is a hassle, but $249 is pretty steep. I'd expect ~$100 or so.. (It won't be free)

Service plus are down to $139 but i have to physically walk in with it with photo id apparently Fortunately the machine isnt mission critical so happy to shop around

Not sure if it’s a help, but I highly recommend ServicePlus, great communication and service and they are an offical Apple place too so service will be of a high standard. Very sorry this happened to you.

dfnt

1553 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1036

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1876582 3-Oct-2017 11:14

Yeah, I was going to recommend Service Plus over Noel Leeming

What's wrong with taking photo ID?

Quic referral link https://account.quic.nz/refer/276294 free setup code R276294EBWOBK

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1876808 3-Oct-2017 18:16

Well final update to this saga

Apple has decided to make an exception and will undertake the solution on my imac free of charge.

So a sort silver maybe a little lining .

Once again thanks for support advice and help I appreciate it

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

1 | 2 | 3 | 4