“Pay for Frozen iPhones!” Said Hackers

It appears the phenomena of Disney Frozen has reached the virtual world in a sad way. A hacker named  Oleg Pliss is now targeting to freeze  iOS of iPhones and iPads. To unlock the device he/she is demanding an amount of £55 ($50 and $100 Australian dollars) to be sent to  ock404(at)hotmail.com Paypal account.

This virtual plague has affected most part of Australia and some reports of Britons are also affected. It seems the hacker had tapped the” Find My iPhone” features, where it allows to track and lock the stolen devices remotely which result to frozen iPhones.

Those who experienced frozen devices seek help  of Apple’s support forums where you can read  their testimonies there.  One of affected just remembered to buy some new apps,  but totally unaware how the hacking was done.

The Stay Smart Online, an Australian government website informed everyone not to pay the demand of the hacker.

Apple has not yet responded how these things happen. Right now, there are only speculations.

According to David Emm, Kaspersky Lab security said, “ the cyber-criminals gained access to Apple-ID credentials (example through phishing emails that aim Apple IDs). The attackers have found a way to access the credentials of the Apple iCloud account which enable  them to use the “Find My iPhone” service.

Clearly, this is a “ransom-ware”, can be seen on Android and PC devices (where triggered by malware) in the past. With the improvement of technology, it is obvious that these cyber-criminals won’t rest.

For your protection, change your log-in information regularly and avoid re-cycling/reusing  your passwords.

Tips for a Secure Password:

1. Using the same password for all your accounts will make easy for hackers to access them. Yes, it can be a challenge to remember multiple password, but it would be a bigger problem if your  online banking,  personal  account and other account would be hacked.
2.  Pick a difficult combination for your password and avoid making patterns. Most people choose a root word related to their personality, then followed by  numbers. Try to be more creative by using small and big letters in the middle of your password. Special characters can also help to make it unique and protected
3. Changing/reset password and security questions is another thing you should consider. Setting a question that can be mined via social media is just like a skeleton key you handed to these  cyber criminals.
4. It’s a good idea to use a password manager, this can generate reliable and unique passwords you need and then you can store and encrypt them in a database which you can unlock with a single password. This way you don’t need to memorize every password.