Change your iPhone settings now.
Alarming media reports again this week warn that your iPhone predetermined settings expose you and your hackers. Whether or not this threat affects it, it is a simple environment to change and you have to do it now. This is nothing new. NSA and law enforcement agencies have announced the same for years, but settings have not changed. “The danger is not just theoretical,” NSA says. “Worst of malicious techniques are publicly and in use.”
We are talking Wi-Fi and the threat a little understood by the “public” Wi-Fi networks. Despite what you may have read, there is little risk of connecting to Wi-Fi public reputation networks in hotels or airport salons, even when traveling abroad.
As long as your online traffic is coded, and you do not enter the new websites that appear on your device when you connect, you will be fine. For additional security I recommend using a VPN – one with a reputation paid one of course – although some agencies advise against personal VPNs, given the risk of catching data if you choose badly.
But that doesn’t mean your phone will not be attacked – away from it.
The much more serious risk is the “public” Wi-Fi networks created to deceive users to think they are reputable when they are not. A Wi-Fi name playing in the name of a hotel or restaurant could belong to an attacker, looking to plant yourself between your device and the real entry point. NSA warns that doing so, “Cyber actors [can]
Employing malicious entry points, redirecting on malicious websites, injecting malicious proxies and intercepted into network traffic. “
Kaspersky describes attacks such as “the greatest threat to free Wi-Fi safety”, explaining that a hacker can “position yourself between you and the point of connection. So instead of talking directly with the hot point, You are sending your information to the hacker, who then transmits them. ” or display Phishing websites or fake entry pages to cheat you to give credentials. Anything more sophisticated than this is likely to be a target attack. If you think this is a risk to you, modify your behavior. Use a VPN and glue it to mobile instead of public wifi.
As for these new iPhone warnings, the change you need to make is very simple. Tap in the settings> Wi-Fi, and there you will see two options. “Ask to join the networks” and “Auto-Join the hot point”. Put the first in “off” or “asking”, never “notify”. Putting the auto-join hotspot should be decided to “ask to join” or “never” and not “automatic”.
This is nothing new. NSA’s warning dates from 2021 though it is still alive and important, and I first warned of this environment before, again in 2020. But nothing seems to have changed in the meantime and here we are all again.
There is another difference you can make, for extra security. In the Wi-Fi settings menu, click “Edit” which you will see the upper right. and navigate the “managed networks”. Then click on “I” next to each network and unlock “Autojoin” unless you are very sure of the network and want to connect to the background.
These are networks mainly provided by your mobile carrier. But above “managed networks” is a list of all WiFi networks known for your iPhone, including where you used a password to connect. You can move autoinoin in the same way for some or all.
In the meantime, keep those two threats in mind. Make sure your online browsing is encrypted – use only websites displaying a closet from the browser URL. And do not enter credentials into popular popups or pages that suddenly appear.