When using an iPhone, a pop-up window may suddenly appear.
Of course, this article is not regarding malicious website pop-ups, but regarding “official features” provided by Apple.
What does this pop mean? And what should be done? (or “shouldn’t you?”).
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Emergency alerted by iOS = meaning of popup
This popup is a function to inform the user that the password has been leaked. If you just listen to this, it may end with “It’s certainly a useful function”, but … What I’m curious regarding is how Apple knows the leaked password.
And what should I do if this popup appears once more?
◇ How Apple’s “Password Monitoring” Works
The sudden appearance of this message on the iPhone is due to a feature recently added in iOS 14 called “Password Monitoring”.
How it works is simple. Apple compares a user’s password to a list of allegedly leaked passwords and issues a warning if a match is found.
So when you see this warning, it doesn’t mean that someone is trying to log into your account right now. However, it means that your password has been exposed online due to a data breach, making your account an easy target for hackers.
◇ Why do passwords and personal information leak?
How does a data breach like this actually happen? Actually, this is a common occurrence. In 2021, 1,291 data leaks from hundreds of different companies. Some of the most famous ones are Microsoft, Facebook, and Panasonic.
Security breaches come in many different ways. Physically, it is done by gaining access to computers and stealing local files containing corporate data.
It can also be done remotely, such as by tricking employees into disclosing their login credentials or sending malicious email attachments that, when opened, allow access to the company’s network. I have.
Data leaks when hackers obtain the data and sell or trade it to others. As a result, someone’s credit card information or social security number is compromised.
In this way, leaking passwords not only allows unauthorized access to accounts, but also carries the risk of personal information being leaked from there.
Such attacks are becoming more and more frequent these days, so Apple introduced a password monitoring feature to protect users.
So what should you NOT do if you see this popup on your iPhone? And what should be done?
The “don’ts” are simple: don’t panic. It is a warning to inform you of password leaks, and it is neither “notifying unauthorized access” nor “notifying you of credit card data leakage”. So, you should be able to deal with it without panicking.
If your bank login ID or iCloud account password is leaked, you need to be especially careful. Changing passwords can be a hassle, but if someone gains access to your banking information or iCloud account, it can be less of a hassle.
It’s also dangerous to rest easy just because you haven’t been warned. As explained, Apple checks a list of publicly available passwords, but does not detect all personal compromises. There is a possibility that “handwritten notes will be stolen”, so let’s never neglect password management.For official information on password monitoring, seeApple official websiteis published in
