Apple has fixed a dangerous and annoying Wi-Fi bug. iOS 14.7 has added “enhanced checks,” Apple says, to stop its devices from “connecting to a malicious Wi-Fi network [that] could lead to a denial of service or arbitrary code execution.”.
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Apple devices are generally safer and more secure than the rest. Generally. But that doesn't mean your iPhone, iPad, and Mac are safe. We've seen a number of iPhone vulnerabilities patched in recent months with emergency patches, and just this week we saw a stark warning about "very malicious" malware attacking Macs.
The recent Apple Wi-Fi security issue was a modified SSID bug, where a combination of characters could trick the iPhone into interpreting the SSID as a code, resulting in the Wi-Fi feature being locked.
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We've seen similar issues in the past with so-called text-bombs, where crafted text strings can overwhelm an Apple device, causing unexpected behavior. These attacks usually require a simple reset, though we've seen examples where the text can never be edited out of your chat history — and that means deleting and reinstalling the messaging app. Before the fix, the latest Wi-Fi issue also required a reset.
While the latest flaw was a technical one, you’re only at risk if you leave your Wi-Fi settings open. Without it, you’d have to manually select a Wi-Fi network with a strange name. You might have assumed that it would be unlikely that you’d fall victim to such an attack, but many of you still have those “dangerous” Wi-Fi settings open. And while this particular flaw was meant to trick phone , most Wi-Fi attacks simply aim to trick you.
Let's start with the advice. Don't use public Wi-Fi hotspots, and if you must, make sure you're using a reliable VPN.
Protecting yourself is easy, however, and if you change these settings, Wi-Fi problems like the latest iPhone warning can't put you at risk.
You shouldn't join public Wi-Fi networks even manually, but you should, categorically, stop your phone from automatically connecting to such networks – which is very likely set to default right now.
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In your iPhone's settings, click Wi-Fi, then make sure "Ask to Join Networks" and "Auto-Join Hotspots" are both set to "Ask" / "Ask to Join.".
If you don't have many networks saved on your device beyond home and work, you can set "Ask to Join Networks" to "Off" or "Notify" to avoid clicking when you're at home or work, but then you have to click the "i" next to other networks you connect to and disable automatic connection. You shouldn't automatically connect to the Wi-Fi at your nearby coffee shop, as convenient as it is.
Information source: forbes.com
