Mobile phones have become an extension of our modern life. With sensitive personal and professional data on our phones, it’s no wonder cell phones are a prime target for hacking.
There are often silent attacks where you never know that a criminal has gained access to every part of your phone, including your private text messages, email, apps, contacts, photos, and recordings.
This can happen by physically compromising your phone through access such as malware-laden charging ports, unlocking your phone, unsecured Wi-Fi connections, SIM card swapping, open Bluetooth connections, and holes in the operating system that allow entry. from a hacker.
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Follow these steps to find out if your phone has been hacked. (CyberGuy.com)
Has your phone been hacked?
While some signs that your phone has been hacked may be more obvious, like a full-screen pop-up exclaiming that it’s been hacked, other signs may be more subtle. It’s never a good feeling to find out that your phone has been compromised anyway.
Red flag signs that your phone may have been hacked
However, it’s better to know what signs to look for so you can find out sooner rather than later that your phone has been compromised. This way, you can take the necessary steps to stop the security breach and limit the problems that these compromises could bring. Key signs to look out for include:
1. Random or Full Screen Popups
This may be the most obvious way to find out that your device has been hacked. The hacker is literally telling you that his device has been compromised. These can be displayed on your phone’s home screen or while you’re using an app or browser.
2. Downloading or using unrecognizable apps
If you start seeing apps or files you’ve never downloaded appearing on your home screen or in subfolders, you may have been hacked.
3. Calls, texts or emails not initiated from your phone
If you start seeing outgoing calls or text messages that you never made, you may have been hacked. It could be robocalls spoofing your number, but with outgoing texts and emails, it’s most likely a hacker having remote control of your phone.
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4. High background data usage
If you haven’t made any recent changes to the way you use your phone and it seems like your phone is using too much data, your phone has probably been hacked. Malware, spyware, or viruses are likely to use data to divert information to the hacker.
5. Battery drain
If you’re using your phone as normal and haven’t made any recent changes, such as updating your operating system software, but your phone’s battery is draining faster than normal, your phone has likely been hacked. Malware, spyware, and viruses running in the background of your phone’s normal operating system can consume additional power.
6. Apps that open and close without warning
Unless you haven’t performed a necessary OS or app upgrade, your apps shouldn’t open, close, or malfunction. Sometimes malware, viruses, and spyware can cause the operating system and other legitimate applications to malfunction.
7. Multiple online accounts have been password compromised
If multiple online accounts with the same password were breached, stored or last used on your phone, then your cell phone might have been hacked.
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What to do if you think your phone has been hacked
1. Change passwords
Preferably from a different device, you can go through and change your passwords manually. Not only will they generate super-strong passwords that are hard to crack, but they’ll also allow you to generate unique passwords for each account, so if one account is compromised, not all accounts using the same password are.
A password manager will also “remember” and “autofill” your password, so you don’t have to remember it every time. Most password managers have two-way encryption, so when you create and use passwords, they are still secure.
My password manager choose here.
2. Virus protection on all devices
In addition to the signs listed above, malware, spyware, and viruses can either run silently in the background or compromise enough data before they’re discovered. While not getting hacked in the first place is the best position to be in, giving a hacker access to your phone data for an extended period of time is worse. That’s where having antivirus software constantly running in the background of your device is a great way to prevent compromises from happening in the first place.
See my expert review of the best antivirus protection for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices by searching for “Best Antivirus” on CyberGuy.com by clicking the magnifying glass icon at the top of my website.
Related: Free Antivirus: Should You Use It?
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3. Remove unknown apps
If you have malfunctioning apps, you never downloaded them or downloaded them from unofficial or third-party sites, remove them immediately. Apps should only be downloaded from an official source, such as Apple or the Google Play Store. The apps you are downloading should only be from well-reviewed developers with lots of positive reviews.
4. Reset the phone to factory settings
If it is not a simple solution to remove apps or files, or you are still anxious about the security breach, the best option is to factory reset the phone.
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