iPad & detected malware

B0bbyEwing

My mother once again has messaged me to say she's getting a warning on one of her devices & should she click. This one looked a little more convincing than most but I still think it's bogus & I'm wondering how it's come about.

Anyway at the top of the screenshot she sent me it says 

Apple security
shieldsurfsafe.com

Then under this is a pop up box saying...

shieldsurfsafe.com
We detected malware that might damage your battery and file system! Press OK to protect your device.

Under that is a grey Ok and then under the grey ok is a blue OK.

I said not to click anything & to restart the iPad to see if that does anything.

My other concern is why it always seems to be my mum having trouble with technology & specifically messaging me with "I'm getting this message saying I should click XYZ, should I...." making me wonder what on earth she's doing with her devices. 

Do any of you know anything about this shieldsurfsafe thing? 

oldernonethewiser

Is she using Safari to browse and does she have all the current security features/ad blocker extensions turned on and up to date?

TadleyBaggie

My money would be on a scam pop up. Actual malware on iOS devices is rare.

Going to shieldsurfsafe.com just displays a blank page.

GDB2222

If you google shieldsurfsafe, virtually nothing comes up. So, it's 100% certain it is not an Apple security system. If it were Apple, there'd be dozens of websites saying how useful it is, and dozens complaining about it. 

There is a website for shieldsurfsafe.com, and Virustotal reports it as clean, but I'm not going there!

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url

Like you, I don't get these things popping up on my ipad, so goodness only knows what your mum is doing!

B0bbyEwing

oldernonethewiser said:

Is she using Safari to browse and does she have all the current security features/ad blocker extensions turned on and up to date?

She does use Safari yes.

AFAIK her iOS is up to date. I know it is on her phone & watch as surprise surprise there's been bother there too lately, although not on a security level. So I know those are kept up to date. Not 100% on the iPad just that I think it is. 

Regards ad blocker extensions though - I'm not an Apple user myself, how would I check that next time I see her?

GDB2222 said:

If you google shieldsurfsafe, virtually nothing comes up. So, it's 100% certain it is not an Apple security system. If it were Apple, there'd be dozens of websites saying how useful it is, and dozens complaining about it. 

There is a website for shieldsurfsafe.com, and Virustotal reports it as clean, but I'm not going there!

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url

Like you, I don't get these things popping up on my ipad, so goodness only knows what your mum is doing!

Yeah that's exactly what I thought when I searched it. Still, I thought I'd come and ask others anyway.

As for your final comment, who knows. We got her an Apple Watch at Xmas & I'm frequently getting "it's not doing this" "it's stopped doing that" "XYZ doesn't work any more". 
I don't mind helping at all but as I've just said, I'm not an Apple user so I can't just instantly say oh XYZ is a fix for that or you're just pressing the wrong thing etc. I have to start searching in to things. I did say recently though that she must be the only Apple Watch user in the entire world with this much bother over things that "don't work" which then suddenly do [work]. 

On-the-coast

It’s probably not any sort of real message - just a web page pretending to be one. 

See here for example, 
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251249138?sortBy=best
but there were half a dozen similar discussions on Apple forums when I Googled. 

PHK

She’s probably doing what a friend of mine does. Clicking on adverts that say things like “ten viruses detected click to delete. 

Kat78MFW

My MIL had a problem with pop-ups on her iPad that came from the calendar. Somehow a shared calendar was added that had a reminder set to come up regularly with scare mongering messages about viruses. Once we disconnected the shared calendar, the messages stopped. 

chrisw

My mother often gets the same thing (why is it always mums?) Closing down all the tabs on safari, swiping to close all the apps and going into settings, Safari, clear web data and cookies, seems to resolve it until the next time.

B0bbyEwing

Kat78MFW said:

My MIL had a problem with pop-ups on her iPad that came from the calendar. Somehow a shared calendar was added that had a reminder set to come up regularly with scare mongering messages about viruses. Once we disconnected the shared calendar, the messages stopped. 

Thanks. How do I check a shared calendar? 

Also thanks Chrisw. I'll take a look at that. 

oldernonethewiser

Downlaod Adblock Pro. This is a free (there is a paid upgrade you can ignore) extension for Safari that will help block stuff ever being seen.  Plenty of help online how to use this.

In Safari itself make sure "block pop ups" is turned on.

Not foolproof but those will help.