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iPad IOS14.6 Safari bookmark "changed"!

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PerranOak:
I have the BBC Weather website for my area as a bookmark on favourites and have had it, unchanged, for years.

Today when I clicked on it an IOS message came up warning that this was an insecure site and I should close it. The web address was a great long one - not the normal one. In my idiotic panic I deleted it without noting the address.

I force-closed Safari and cleared all website data.

How could this happen? Does it mean I have a virus or something?

Cheers.

Just_another_Dave:
If you have synchronization with other devices activated, it might be possible that some plugin has changed the url (some nasty plugins added by adware programs change things like your default search engine without asking, so it won’t surprise me if there’s one that changes your favorites to force you to watch some ads before being able to access them). However, safari for iPadOS does not support plugins, as far as I know

Another possibility could be that safari had redirected you to another website to show you the warning as some antivirus like McAffee do. Before panicking, check if more favorites have been affected and if accessing that website from google or writing its url also shows that warning. If it always warn you and the rest of favorites are ok, it might be a problem of the bbc website

Virus don’t usually affect a single url or file, specially when it isn’t one related to a bank, social network or store (the bbc website does not seem a good target for stealing your money)

PerranOak:
It’s only synced with an iPhone and I didn’t try that before deleting and re-establishing the bookmark!

The other bookmarks seem ok although the uk rail one refused to load because of excessive redirects.

Nothing else seems odd.

Can you check an iPad for viruses, etc.?

Just_another_Dave:
I thought that there weren’t antiviruses available in the App Store, but according to this website there are a few ones: https://cybernews.com/best-antivirus-software/antivirus-for-iphone/ . However, I haven’t tested any of them, so I’m not sure about how good they are

Nevertheless, Apple supposedly checks every app that gets listed in the App Store so a single warning might just be a false positive

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