Potential Security Issue on iPhone: Unusual Activity and Sounds Post Website Visit

[Watkins700]

Hello All,

I am currently dealing with a situation regarding my iPhone that is causing me some concern, and I'm hoping that someone here might be able to shed some light on the issue.

The problem began on Friday, 23rd June, when I visited a tech-related website via the Safari browser on my iPhone. While on this site, a pop-up appeared asking me if I wanted to download 'sync.' I opted not to download it by clicking on the 'x' button on the pop-up. Following this, I cleared my web history and all web data just to be safe.

The following day, I revisited the same web page, and the same pop-up emerged. After going through the same routine, I factory reset my device and restored it from an iCloud backup, which was made on Wednesday, 21st June.

My worry deepened when, after restoring from the backup, I noticed that all my text messages that were sent and received after the backup on the 21st June were still present, even though I had assumed they would be deleted after the reset.

This led me to question whether any potentially malicious malware could have been downloaded and retained, despite the reset and restore process. I reached out to Apple support, but their responses were not as helpful as I had hoped, and they seemed overconfident about iPhone's security.

Adding to my worries, on Sunday, 25th June, I noticed a peculiar sound after sending a message and instantly locking my device. The sound was unfamiliar and did not seem like a typical iPhone sound. To best describe it, it was similar to a 'Dee-doop' noise, reminiscent of Apple's 'shake' sound, which can be found in a YouTube video showcasing all Apple interface sounds at 2:18. Here is the link for reference:

I am left feeling concerned about the potential security risks my iPhone may be facing and whether these issues signify a breach or virus. I am hoping that someone here can help me understand what I may be experiencing and whether there is cause for concern.

Any advice, tips, or reassurances would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ovbacon]

Your text messages might have come back from iCloud....

 

[iStorm]

These were likely just ads and nothing harmful. Now I'm not saying it's completely impossible, but it's very unlikely you got malware just by visiting a site on your iPhone. Security on an iPhone vs security on a computer are very different.

The text messages dated after your backup most likely came from 'Messages in iCloud'. Do you have that feature turned on?

Did a notification happen to come in just as you locked your device? Third party apps can have their own "non-Apple" notification sounds.

 

[Rnd-chars]

Odds are you’re fine, but that web site sounds sketchy and I avoid sites that have ads like that (as an aside, you might want to install an ad blocker like 1Blocker. It’s cross platform and unlike many ad blockers, does not require access to the page contents in order to block ads making it more secure by design)

I concur that your messages like came back because of iCloud backup. If you really wanted to be safe and go with a scorched earth policy, you could factory reset your phone and *not* restore from backup.

The Lock sound can’t be changed (it’s either on or off), but you can check to see if your Messages sound is something unexpected in Settings -> Sounds & Haptics. Again, odds are you received a notification/sound from some other app (perhaps one you recently installed).

Also, it’s in the best interest of malware to remain undetected for as long as possible so doing something obvious like changing system sounds would not only take effort but increase the likelihood of discovery.

Good luck!