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Apr 23, 2020 Part 1: How to Hack an iPhone remotely via Neatspy. Neatspy is one of the best iPhone hacking software in the market that has already won the support of millions of users around the world. Neatspy is completely legit, and it gives you access to a number of strong features such as the ability to track the target’s location, social media account, intercept calls, etc. Sep 16, 2019 Once that’s done, the hacker can intercept and decrypt all data that passes between the Bluetooth devices easily. Even worse, she can also inject malicious messages on the device. And we could go on. There’s ample evidence that Bluetooth is about as secure as a padlock sculpted from fusilli pasta. It’s Usually the Manufacturer’s Fault. Jun 09, 2017 The attack is carried out by exploiting Bluetooth's electronic business card feature as a message carrier. The hacker cannot access any information or intercept messages. You can protect yourself from these unsolicited spam messages by putting your phone into 'invisible' or 'non-discoverable' mode.
Every day we see news about computers being hacked and how the cybercriminals make money off people clueless about the protection of their assets.
For someone not very technical, it may sound as if hackers are so powerful, and the only way to hide is to shut down all devices and go off the grid completely.
However, the truth is that there are several simple things one can do to make sure that we are reasonably safe when browsing the internet without affecting our ability to access the information we need.
Whether or not someone can hack into the computer or phone through WiFi depends on a person’s proximity to the WiFi router. If a cybercriminal in the range of access to the WiFi router, they can connect to the local network and perform various attacks, such as Man In The Middle attack.
If the hacker is outside of the WiFi range, then the way they attack will be different.
Let’s consider various scenarios of how the computer can be hacked and ways to protect your devices.
Hacking Computer Through Local WiFi
As you probably guessed, it is much easier to hack the computer, which is in close proximity to the hacker’s device.
Or maybe you are using the office WiFi, and it was also hacked.
And it doesn’t have to be a computer, such as a Mac or PC. Your smartphone, iPhone, or Android, which uses the WiFi can be hacked as well.
Let’s see what hackers can do if they are physically connected to the WiFi you are using.
Man in the middle attack
If you have the internet at home from a cable, DSL, or fiber-optic provider, you have a router. Your computer does not directly connect to the internet; it sends and receives data by directing it through the router.
In layman terms, the process is the following:
Your computer or phone finds a WiFi router.
After submitting the correct password, the router sends back its MAC address. MAC address is an identifier of computer components, and in theory, it should be unique across billions of devices on the planet. The network card on your computer also has a unique MAC address.
After you get the MAC address of the router, all internet activity will be going through the router. In the pic below, there is a MAC address next to each device on the local network, and the router’s address is 11:22:33:44:55:66.
When a hacker connects to the local WiFi router, it also finds the MAC address of the router. The hacker changes his computer’s MAC address to be the same as routers one (11:22:33:44:55:66 in the pic below).
Now, all devices on the local network connect to the hacker’s machine, and then the data flows to and from the router. So the hacker becomes a man in the middle (MITM).
Once this happened, the hacker can read all outgoing requests and incoming data using various tools that collect such data.
This means every time you enter a username and password on some web site or enter your credit card number, and it gets saved on the hacker’s machine. Also, every URL you are visiting also gets saved.
There are some limitations, obviously. For instance, if the website uses the HTTPS protocol (S at the end stands for Secure), all traffic is encrypted between your computer and cybercriminals will not be able to crack it (in most cases).
However, if the web site uses HTTP, all data, including the password, is in cleartext. Imagistics fx2100 drivers download windows 7.
So, if you want to avoid your data being stolen, always check that web site is using a secure protocol (HTTPS). In the browsers, the secure protocol is usually displayed with a padlock icon next to the URL.
Never enter passwords or financial information on web sites with HTTP!
How the router can be hacked
When it comes to your home WiFi, there are three ways for someone outside to connect to the router:
The router is not password protected
You tell the password. For instance, you told the guest the password, or she looked it up on the router (if you didn’t change the default one)
If the router is using an old authentication protocol
I am going to skip the first two and instead of focus on the last one. The authentication protocol used in with WiFi router is very important.
If your router is old, it is possible that it’s still using WEP protocol, then you should know that anyone who knows a little bit about hacking can hack the router literally in less than a minute.
So, if you have it enabled on your router, then go ahead and disable as I did.
What you should have is WPA2 with AES encryption. In the pic below, the authentication strength (protection from hacking) increases from top to bottom (WPA is less secure, and WPA2-PSK with AES is the most secure).
Some hackers employ a dictionary attack to crack WPA protocol, but it takes supercomputers to hack it. So as long as you are not a celebrity or a billionaire, nobody will spend so many resources to break into your network.
Usually, you can connect to the home router settings by going to the local IP address, such as http://192.168.0.1/.
How to tell if someone hacked your router
One of the sure routers hacked signs is the existence of an unknown device connected to the local WiFi network.
As I explained above, in order to perform a man in the middle (MITM) attack, the hacker must connect to the WiFI network first. And if he’s connected, you can see him too.
One way to find out the connected devices is through the router settings. Some routers allow us to see all connected devices and kick them out if needed.
Another way is to use a network scanner app. For instance, I found a cool app called Fing. The app is available for almost all platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows.
It is free (with ads) and doesn’t even require creating an account in order to use it.
One cool feature they have is scanning for open ports.
For instance, when I scanned my MacBook Pro, I found that remote desktop and screen sharing features were enabled, and anyone could connect to my Mac remotely.
How to protect from a MITM attack
While it is possible to scan and find unknown devices on the home network, this approach will not work with public WiFi networks, such as the one in Starbucks or the hotel.
You would never know if the public network was compromised. In this case, the only way to protect your privacy is to use a VPN (a virtual private network).
When connected to VPN, your computer or phone creates a secure encrypted channel with the VPN server. After the connection is established, all requests go to the VPN server. The server makes all requests on your behalf and returns the results back to you.
From outside, it looks like the computer is sending some garbage to and back to the same computer. Even if the hacker collecting the information, he won’t be able to tell whether you’re connecting to Google.com or MacMyths.com.
When choosing a VPN software, follow these best practices:
Do not use a free VPN. They have significant limitations, and you know that good things are never free.
Test for speed. Some VPS are significantly faster than others.
Check the provider’s reputation. Since all requests now go through the VPN, technically, the VPN server becomes a man in the middle. So choose only reputable providers.
Personally, I am using NordVPN: it’s the fastest on the market and very inexpensive. It is available for multiple platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
If you use my NordVPN affiliate link you get a pretty steep discount for three-year plan for up to 6 devices.
Hacking Computer Remotely
We discussed ways to hack the computers and phones through local WiFi, but I know the question that most people ask is whether hackers can connect to the home network when they are on the other end of the world (or more than a hundred yards or meters away).
Fortunately, the answer is no, someone cannot get into your home network, even if they know the password if they are outside of the range (more than 300 feet).
Also, in most cases, hackers cannot get into your computer is off (link).
Hacking Through Bluetooth
However, there are other ways to get into your system remotely. Do you remember a story of Bezos’s personal data being leaked?
In his case, he received a message on WhatsApp with malware attachment. When the malware was installed on his phone, it started sending the personal data to the server abroad.
Similarly, we are all at the risk of having malware installed on our computers and smartphones. Some malware open access to the device, so the hackers can access it remotely.
Or, the malware could be a keylogger, and in this case, even having HTTPS or a VPN will not help. A keylogger will record the keys pressed on the keyboard, and if it happens to be a credit card number, then the hacker will have it.
So, how to protect the devices from malware? You need to install an antivirus program.
There is a common myth that Macs cannot have viruses, but this is not true. I was able to inject my Mac with more than 100 malware samples when testing various antimalware solution.
You can check the results of my test and recommended antiviruses in my post: Best Malware Detection App for Mac. Corel draw x4 download mac.
Every time my friends and family ask me for a recommended antivirus, I go with Norton 360. It comes with the biggest bang for the buck and provides antimalware and other security features on all platforms. And it also has its own VPN!
Conclusion
We reviewed multiple ways how someone can hack into your phone or computer through WiFi. I also listed ways to prevent this from happening, which I wanted to reiterate.
If you worry about online security, consider investing in the following tools:
VPN software
Antivirus program
Be very cautious when connecting to public WiFi. I’d say if you don’t have VPN installed on a laptop or smartphone don’t use public WiFi, or at least avoid making purchases with a credit card or entering passwords.
If you are interested in the topic of security, there is a great course available on Udemy about ethical hacking. The instructor teaches how to hack computers ethically and most importantly what can you do to prevent from being targeted:
There are a lot of ways that iPhones are secured from hacks – by default they’re unable to download potentially malicious apps from non-App Store sources; Apple strictly polices the App Store for apps that may grab illegitimate permissions to users’ devices; and overall, because of these factors, less malware is created targeting iOS than Android devices.
“Apple does a tremendous work preventing the devices from being hacked, and except for the rare and short-lived cases of bugs or zero day issues, like the recent Facetime vulnerability, there is hardly any risk at any given time,” says Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at McAfee.
However, that doesn’t mean there are no security risks for iPhones floating around online.
The 4 Ways Your iPhone Can Be Hacked
1. Downloading malware-ridden apps
Apple has a reputation for policing its App Store more stringently than Google does its Play Store for Android devices, which in general has meant iPhones are less prone to risky or malware-ridden apps.
While still true, there are now more of those risky apps on iOS. One study back in 2017 found that as iOS became more popular with corporate and government users, the percentage of these enterprise devices with malicious apps tripled within a quarter. Hackers were exploiting the side-loading method used by enterprise IT teams to install company apps via a non-App Store service.
And earlier this year, fourteen iOS games were found to be sending user data back to a server associated with an Android malware known as Goldluck. The data included IP addresses and sometimes location data and though the apps didn’t contain any malicious code, the security firm that found the issue said the apps presented a backdoor that hackers could potentially exploit to access app users’ iPhones.
Several iOS apps popular mainly in China, including the messenger WeChat were also infected with a virulent malware called XcodeGhost. Once an infected app was downloaded, the malware would create phishing screens to steal users’ logins and hijack the phone browser to open particular URLs that could potentially be malicious links to download more malware.
Can Mac Be Hacked Through Bluetooth Headphones
Jailbroken iPhones are at a much higher risk for being hacked since users are able to download apps from sources other than the App Store, where malicious programs are less likely to be blocked.
What you can do: Only download apps from the App Store, and always read the permissions an app requests when you first run it.
“Apple makes sure the user is always informed of all permissions requested by the App, but if you approve blindly for an App to manage and fully control your device, you cannot really complain,” says Davis. “You wouldn’t give your house keys to anyone who asks for them, right?”
However, researchers have demonstrated it’s possible to sneak a malicious iOS app into Apple’s official store. The app would appear innocuous on initial review, but after download, its permissions could be updated to carry out harmful actions that weren’t initially detectable. In this case, the onus would be on Apple to fix the vulnerability that allows such an app to obtain more access after installation.
2. Using public Wi-Fi
As meticulous as you may be about downloading legitimate apps from official sources, the greatest security risk comes when your iPhone is on a public Wi-Fi network.
“As long as users only install apps from the App Store the biggest risk factor is really from the network side,” says Davis. “Wi-Fi hotspots are being hacked and hackers can introduce man-in-the-middle attacks that can steal passwords or gain access to phones.”
Man-in-the-middle attacks mean that hackers intercept the data being transmitted between your iPhone and the Wi-Fi server, an especially easy task if you’re using an unencrypted hotspot - and according to Kaspersky Lab, over one in four hotspots are unencrypted. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are also at risk for session hijacking, where thieves may attempt to steal browser cookies associated with an online session with a service – for example, Facebook or Skype – and use those to login as the real owner and take over the account.
What you can do: Use a VPN app to protect your privacy on public Wi-Fi. This encrypts all traffic between your iPhone and any server it communicates with, making it much harder for hackers to spy on your data. It’s a good idea to choose a paid-for VPN – free apps base their business model on monetizing user data, and with VPNs, the user data they have access to is someone’s entire browsing history. We like NordVPN (Disclosure: we have an affiliate relationship with NordVPN) and ExpressVPN.
3. Using a weak Apple password
If you have a weak Apple password, it’s conceivable that your iPhone could be hacked via iCloud – especially if your email address is already floating around on the dark web and hacker forums from past breaches of various platforms.
Mac turn off email notifications app. Much hacking involves automated password cracking using botnets (networks of people’s computers that have been compromised by malware), which constantly try logging in to online accounts using lists of known email addresses and password cracking tools based on common passwords and dictionary words.
If your iCloud account is breached, that means a hacker can access the photos in your Photo Stream, the files in your iCloud Drive, your email, browsing history, calendar and messages – and what’s more, potentially use this information to hack your other accounts.
What you can do: Create a strong password and turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for iCloud. A strong password vastly increases the time needed for a brute-force attack to crack your Apple account (think hundreds of years), while 2FA means that even if the password is guessed (say through a phishing screen, where the user is tricked into entering their login), iCloud will request a 2FA code – sent by SMS or email - before granting access. And for help automatically creating and managing your strong passwords, it's a good idea to use one of our picks for the best password managers.
4. Taking advantage of bugs in iOS
Last year, a huge vulnerability was discovered in the Intel chips that power iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple TVs, affording access to users’ most sensitive information. This vulnerability would need to be exploited by a malicious program, which could be a downloaded app or Mac program – but could also come from a malicious website. Luckily, no known devices have been affected, and updates to the MacOS and iOS were said to have patched some of the issues.
Another significant bug was discovered in FaceTime that allowed callers to hear the audio of the person they were calling, before they had picked up. If the receiver pressed the power button from the lock screen, their video would also be sent to the caller, unbeknownst to them.
Tanki online crystals hack download. The bug affected devices on iOS 12.1 and later, and Apple subsequently released an update to patch the issue.
What to do: Always download updates as soon as they’re available. In these particular cases, the presence of the vulnerabilities didn’t immediately correlate to security breaches – but it could have if these vulnerabilities had been found by criminal hackers rather than ‘white hat hackers’, such as security researchers.
5 ways to protect your iPhone from being hacked
Securing an iPhone from hacks comes down to general security hygiene. Follow these five steps to ensure you stay safe.
1. Make sure your iOS is up to date
The easiest way to ensure your iOS is up to date is to turn on automatic updates. You can find the option by going to Settings > General > Software Update
2. Only install apps from the App Store
When you jailbreak an iPhone, you install an unauthorized version of iOS. People do this to gain more access to the functionality of the hardware, but they also bypass some of the security features Apple has put in place to keep hackers out. If you haven't jailbroken your iPhone, you won't be able to install apps from other sites. Staying with the official version of iOS and using the App Store will provide the most protection.
3. Always read the authorization dialogs an app presents when you first run it
Most apps don't need full access to your phone. So when you install an app, make sure that the access the app requests is in line with the functionality it delivers. If an app requires too much access, you should consider an alternative.
4. Use a VPN on public Wi-Fi
VPNs provide end to end encryption from your computer to whatever website or service you're using. If you're using a public Wi-Fi network, it makes sense to keep all of your data encrypted so you're not vulnerable to hackers hijacking your session and stealing your data. We like NordVPN (Disclosure: we have an affiliate relationship with NordVPN) and ExpressVPN.
5. Install an iOS security app
The McAfee mobile security app prevents you from opening malicious web sites, detects if a Wi-Fi hotspot is compromised and comes with a VPN feature, while Avira similarly protects from phishing links and can check if your email has been hacked. Sophos checks Wi-Fi hotspots for cyberattacks, along with offering a 2FA code and password generator.