After iPhone crash texts, pranksters have come up with a website link that causes the iPhones and iPads to crash, albeit temporarily. The viral hack circulated through social media channels is not causing serious damage to the devices, but users can risk losing their unsaved work as a result of an unexpected restart.
The website – crashsafari.com – is a simple script that quickly adds up characters into the browser's address bar. This overloads the app's memory, causing it to crash and restart the iOS device in order to regain normal operations. If any user fell for the trick, there is no need to worry as there are no security concerns linked with this.
The URL overload not only affects Safari browsers on iPhones and iPads, but it is also seen to freeze the desktop counterparts. The website simply reads: "What were you expecting?" The site went viral after users started sharing it on Twitter as a short-link.
Wow. One "Crash Safari" short-link has been clicked on more than one hundred thousand times… pic.twitter.com/JqotjPiN1j
— News from the Lab (@FSLabs) January 25, 2016
Right now, lots of jokers are posting shortlinks to 'crashsafari․com'. The link will reboot your iPhone. Watch out. pic.twitter.com/3mZby5Xpo2 — Mikko Hypponen (@mikko) January 25, 2016
Venture Beat tested the crash link on various browsers and found malfunctioning results on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox too. Chrome on Android, iOS, OS X and Windows froze due to the URL overload, but the rest of device remains unaffected.
Firefox for Android, iOS, Windows and OS X ended up crashing eventually while loading the site. Surprisingly, Microsoft Edge worked like a pro by loading the site immediately without crashing or causing any delay, Venture Beat report added.
The website crashsafari.com was registered back in April 2015 and expires in April 2016. It was created by 22-year-old Matthew Bryant, who works in application security in San Francisco, as a joke, Wired reported.
