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New app can tell you if your iPhone might’ve been hacked

Published May 9th, 2016 2:32PM EDT

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It might seem like your precious iPhone is always at your side and it never leaves your sight, but that’s simply not the case. You might be shocked to learn that oftentimes when an iPhone is hacked, the hack comes about because people gained physical access to the iPhone in question. So many users don’t take full advantage of the iOS security options in place and as a result, malicious software can be installed quicker than you can imagine.

Now, however, there’s a new app available in the iOS App Store that can tell you if your phone might have been hacked.

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The first step to installing spyware or other malicious apps on an iPhone that a hacker gets his or her hands on is always the same: jailbreaking. Without taking this crucial first step, malicious software doesn’t have access to all of your private info and files.

You’ve read about jailbreaking and you have some idea of how it works, but believe it or not it can be very difficult to know if your iPhone has been jailbroken by a hacker, because hiding the evidence is easy. Luckily, there’s a new app in the App Store that hackers cannot hide from.

Created by German security researcher Stefan Esser, the app is called System and Security Info and it’s designed specifically to show you important information about your iPhone focused solely on security.

Among the things System and Security Info checks for is whether or not an iPhone is jailbroken. If the app says your phone has had a jailbreak applied and you’re not the one who did it, that’s an obvious red flag that needs to be addressed immediately. Unless you know what you’re doing, you should contact Apple support immediately.

For those who jailbreak their devices themselves, System and Security Info can also check to make sure that no malware has been installed. It searches for and detects a number of different security anomalies, including non-Apple daemons, injected libraries and more.

System and Security Info is available to purchase for $0.99 in the App Store.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.