Annoying iOS web attack will forcibly restart your iPhone, but not much else

The latest iOS hack won't steal your data, but it will annoy you.

Fifteen short lines of code on a webpage can restart your iPhone or iPad. Alternatively, visiting it on a Mac can cause the Safari window to freeze.

As reported by TechCrunch, this exploit can easily be transmitted and sent to unsuspecting iOS users. Since it's a short snippet of code, it can hide on almost any webpage. It will restart your device by actually enabling a fail-safe that is built into iOS.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The code tries to use all available resources, which results in a kernel panic. In response, the iPhone will then power cycle off and power cycle on to prevent any damage.

Luckily, that's all the code does. There is nothing truly malicious. So it can't steal your data, access your passwords, or see any info from your device.

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Fair warning, clicking the second link in the tweet above will cause a restart. I tested this exploit on an iPhone X running the latest iOS 12 beta and a 10.5-inch iPad Pro running 11.4.1. – both devices power cycled off, and a few seconds later the Apple logo appeared as it restarted.

For now, it might be a fun way to prank a friend or the latest way that hackers can troll iPhone users. Be wary of incoming links from unsuspecting sources, and if your phone turns off as a result of this code just know it won't steal data. If anything, it might give you a moment of solitude when it disconnects you from the ever-connected world.

Fingers crossed that the iOS teams at Apple are working swiftly to address this.