3 Tips to defend against the new Apple iCloud SPAM
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn on 12/8/16
We have seen it all when it comes to SPAM, from unwanted adult content emails, health discoveries, IT help, and personal finance revelations to the pitiful “IRS” calls praying on the gullible. You would think all possible avenues of spam attacks have been covered, but a new attack has emerged, enter iCloud SPAM.
If you have an iPhone or iPad and make use of the calendar app, you may have recently noticed a few suspicious random invitations for discounts and sales by way of calendar events you did not ask for or create. You are not alone, and this is not a fluke, this is a new form of SPAM. Apple has released the following statement concerning this annoyance:
“We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.”
Should you receive one of these calendar invitations the only options you will see are “accept, maybe or decline.” Pop Quiz, can you guess which option you should you pick?
Decline right?
Wrong!! Do NOT click ANY.
The trick of this SPAM attack is to have you respond. These invites are sent out to numerous iCloud accounts fishing for a response. If you acknowledge it by clicking any option you are alerting the scammers that they reached a valid email address attracting more SPAM.
There are various media sources sharing tips on how to stop this from the The New York Times, CNET to Wired offering the same advice with their twist. Below are some specific actions you can take to prevent, remove and safeguard yourself of this SPAM, especially if you see one of these “innocently disguised discount/sales” invitation.
1. How to prevent calendar SPAM
- Navigate to iCloud and log in with your credentials.
- Click on the Calendar icon.
- Click the gear icon on the bottom left then preferences.
- Click Advanced on top.
- Then at the bottom change the invitations setting to the “Email to…” option and save.
2. How to remove invites already on your iPhone/iPad
- On your iPhone launch the Calendar App
- On the bottom click Calendars, then edit on the top left.
- Under the iCloud group click Add Calendar and name it SPAM. Click done on the top right, then done on the top left and done again on the top right bringing you back to the main calendar view.
- Double click on the name of any spam invite (inbox) or accepted event and change the calendar it is saved to from your default calendar (home in the image above) to the new SPAM calendar created.
- When you are finished doing this for each invite/event, on the main calendar view, click on “Calendars” at the bottom, click the (i) next to the SPAM calendar, scroll down click delete calendar, acknowledge the delete prompt and click done on the top right.
3. One last step advised by David Cox of Tech Talk America
- On your iPhone go to settings.
- Scroll down to Calendar.
- Scroll down to the last options “Events found in Apps” and turn it off.
While Apple works on a solution to this issue, these steps are laid out to ensure you do not get unexpected calendar SPAM, to effectively delete any invites/events you may have received and guard against any events which may come via any apps. There is also SPAM targeting iCloud Photo Sharing. Until Apple resolves these issues it is a good idea to turn off iCloud Photo Sharing (Settings>iCloud>Photos>iCloud Photo Sharing-toggle off).
For visual learners, David Cox’s Video walks you through some of the steps outlined above.
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About the Author: I am not a writer in the classical sense, but I am passionate about technology, law enforcement, and government. I am particularly interested in furthering conversations about their relationship and how societies shift to digital is prompting a reevaluation of our position on these topics.