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.
As if any spyware worth it’s salt didn’t install itself as service with an innocuous name. Something like “Facebook” or “TikTok”.
undefined> Something like “Facebook” or “TikTok”.
I wouldn’t call those innocuous at all, lol.
I have both of those spywares installed!!
That was my initial reaction too, but I believe there is also a good amount of attacks that use 0-day exploits and might not have an angle for permanence yet.
This is good advice if your phone is actively being hacked in real time when you turn it off. Otherwise all you’re doing is delaying or temporarily interrupting any data collection that’s going on in the background. Any apps that are sophisticated enough to run undetected by a normal user are also going to restart themselves as soon as the phone boots up again.
Also, if you are being targeted by a hacker that is knowledgeable enough to actively get into your device (especially an iPhone) without physical access then you’re better off destroying it and buying a new one, along with doing a full reset of all of your passwords, 2FA setup, and anything else you think you’re relying on for “security”.
That is not true. Many attacks (e.g. the recently revealed Operation Triangulation) do not have persistence.
Yup, a lot of very sophisticated mobile malware does not have persistence. His advice holds up.
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).
Something this might accidentally do is apply an update which would indeed be a boon to security.
But without my phone how will I know when 5 minutes have passed?
/sFun fact, the pegasus spyware, yes the NSO group one, will be removed by this. This is to avoid leaving evidence of an infection on the phone. (the phone can be reinfected in seconds of course)
Well I guess mobile phone marketing can use this an reason for poor battery life. It’s now a security feature to force users to reboot every 12 hours.
Does setting your phone to limit background processes to 4 (vs the standard limit) in developer settings potentially have a similar effect? If it periodically kills the nefarious process so it can run something else as you usd your phone?