![]() It's called text bombing - sending dozens or even hundreds of texts to a target - overloading their phone. But now these SMS and MMS messages can be used to bully in a big way. It seems like kids now text more than they talk. Reading or replaying the story in itsĪrchived form does not constitute a republication of the story. The only way to be fully protected is to identify all the possible domains on which the bug could be hosted and block them all - which, let’s face it, isn’t likely an achievable goal.Only for your personal, non-commercial use. That means that if Masri’s link has been reposted to GitHub by anyone else, your phone should be protected from it - but, if anyone has posted the code anywhere else (to their own server, for example), your phone is still vulnerable to it. It does come with a caveat, though: Enacting this hack will only prevent the bad link from displaying on your phone if it’s specifically from GitHub. You can also set your phone to block the GitHub domain from Safari entirely, which some folks say is a decent solution to the problem, according to BuzzFeed. And, if your phone does get bombed by this evil little text, you can always reset the whole thing to its factory settings just know that if you do so, all of your photos, saved data, and settings will be erased, so make sure you’ve got a recent backup available you use to restore your phone to its former glory afterwards. See something like that? Don’t open the text if the preview domain is from GitHub, if you don’t recognize the domain at all, if you don’t know who it’s from, etc. Here’s what an iMessage with a preview in it looks like from the Messages menu (that is, what it looks like before you actually open the text): First off, if you get a text with a link preview in it, don’t open the iMessage unless you know exactly what it is and who it’s from. Happily, though, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from the bug. ![]() ![]() The ethics of making bugs like this publicly available regardless of your own intentions is a whole ‘nother conversation.) My main purpose was to reach out to Apple and say, ‘Hey, you’ve been ignoring my bug reports.’ I always report the bug before releasing something.” Personally, I would argue that once you release something like this into the wild knowing what it can do, you’re then responsible for it if anyone does use it for bad stuff…but that’s just me. (For what it’s worth, Masri did tell BuzzFeed, “ My intention is not to do bad things. After discovering and reporting this bug to Apple, Masri then posted it to GitHub - which means that, although he did specifically tell people, “Do not use it for bad stuff”… well, anyone could have grabbed it and used it for whatever they want, including “bad stuff.” That’s apparently what Masri did: He inputted thousands of characters into the website’s code, which, he found, will overload the system and cause the Messages app to crash. Developers can customize what the previews of specific links look like by inserting a couple of characters into the website’s HTML - but if you insert more than a couple of characters, your phone’s operating system can’t quite handle it. Here’s how it works: Whenever you receive a link in an iMessage text through Messages, a preview of the link will be automatically generated this preview is what displays in the iMessage box when you open the text. The link exploits a bug in the way the Messages app handles link previews, reports BuzzFeed. 16 - but although the original GitHub link has since been taken down, the bug is still out there and able to wreak havoc on your phone if you’re not careful. (iPads and Macs might also be vulnerable.) Masri reported it to Apple before posting the bug to GitHub for informational purposes on Jan. Masri discovered that, when exploited, chaiOS can cause the iPhone text message app, Messages, to crash. An Apple spokesperson told Bustle, "Apple confirmed a fix is coming in a software update next week.”Īccording to the Daily Dot, software developer Abraham Masri found the bug on Jan. It’s not fool proof, of course - but it might go a long towards easing your mind if you’re a little nervous about the whole thing. ![]() The bug, a “text bomb” being referred to as chaiOS, is no laughing matter however, the good news is that learning how to protect yourself from the iPhone text bomb is actually pretty simple. Another day, another text message can make your iPhone freak out just by being opened.
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