How to Protect Your iPhone From Getting Hacked

In the wake of yet another celebrity iPhone hacking scandal, we’ve got some advice for protecting your own iPhone from similar attacks. Check out the video above for tips on making your iPhone harder to hack, including advice about two-factor authentication and using strong, unique password. While the video above might be a couple of months old, the advice is still relevant for anyone who wants to protect their iPhone’s secrets.


ZDNet notes that a vulnerability in Find My iPhone was the cause of the recent round of celebrity iPhone hacks that leaked photos of celebs like Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice, Kate Upton, and Kim Kardashian. Apple has now patched the exploit that made it possible for hackers to find and steal these compromising photographs.

Check out the video above from Sophos to get some tips on creating stronger passwords, which is a must for keeping your iCloud account and other iPhone-related accounts safe from hackers.

Unsure if you are at risk for being hacked? The Daily Mail notes that iCloud’s My Photo Stream feature uploads your photos to the cloud as soon as the device is connected to Wi-Fi, which could make it easier for someone to find those photos if your account gets hacked. However, you can disable this option in Settings. The Daily Mail adds:

“Be aware that deleting a photo from a device does not mean it has been deleted from your online storage account. The photos may also appear in photo streams on other devices, and any phone or tablet that is synced with that iCloud account. This means you should delete photos from all of these areas if you want to get rid of them permanently.”

Business Insider adds that using a passcode on your iPhone’s lock screen can also help protect your data. BI notes that, in at least one high-profile iPhone hacking scandal, users who had a lock screen passcode were able to access devices that had been locked by a hacker. Even though Apple has patched the vulnerability that allowed hackers to steal a bunch of celebrity photos, it’s probably still a good idea to change your iCloud/iTunes password.