Interesting to hear such things discussed at that level. Turning it off is suggested to get rid of compromised background processes that might be spying on users. Obviously, this only help against malware that isn’t permanently installed on a phone.

  • you’re better off destroying it and buying a new one

    Um, what? Spending a thousand bucks on a new phone, which they will probably infect almost immediately, is poor advice.

    If I was in that situation the first thing I’d do is disconnect it from the internet. The next thing I’d do is lock everything down so the attacker can’t use the phone to do any harm (reset passwords, etc, and don’t log into those accounts from your phone).