Turn Off That Nagging iPhone Emergency Alert + Watch Out For Malicious Charging Cables!

Many of us were awakened this past Thursday at 4:45 AM when someone in the government supposedly goofed and woke up millions of Floridians for an emergency test. 

You may want to have your emergency alerts turned off, and if so, here’s how.

On an iPhone go to settings and search for Notifications.

Select notifications and scroll all the way down to the bottom.

The last section is the “Government Alerts” section. There you will see toggles to turn off or no Amber Alerts, Emergency Alerts, Public Safety Alerts, and Test Alerts.  

For Emergency Alerts, that’s the one on an iPhone setting that got you this past Thursday morning if you had that one turned on.

Don’t be fooled by the last 2 settings, Public Safety Alerts and Test Alerts. Even if you had those two turned off you were still awakened Thursday morning if you had the Emergency Alerts turned on, even though it was just a test. 

On an Android phone, tap Settings, then Sounds and Vibration, then More Settings, then Wireless Emergency Alerts and that’s where you can turn off emergency alerts.

Here is another smartphone tip for security – by now you may have heard about the dangers of using public charging stations – where bad actors can load malware onto public USB charging stations to maliciously access electronic devices while they are being charged. This is a real threat and someone can be lurking nearby getting passwords and even have the ability to lock your phone.

But did you also know there is a danger in using a malicious cable? It’s called the Ninja Cable.

A USB Ninja Cable is a USB cable designed to infect connected devices with malware. This malicious cable works by injecting keystrokes onto your device upon being plugged into a USB-friendly device. 

There is also the OMG cable – a new charging cable that can steal all your passwords and banking information stored on your smartphone. This cable has been created for both Android and iOS smartphones. 

How to avoid these cables? Stop buying the cheap knock-offs on Amazon and eBay. Look for Apple Certified on the label for iPhone cables. 

Disclaimer – many government emergency managers are urging cell phone users to not turn off their emergency alerts. Of course, like most things, you will need to determine what is best for you.