Something isn’t quite right. Perhaps your phone’s battery is depleting far too quickly. Or it could turn on and off automatically all of a sudden. It could be that it’s getting too hot to hold. Similarly, you may notice outgoing calls you don’t make or unusual data consumption increases. These signs could indicate that your smartphone has been hacked.
On the surface, several symptoms of a possible smartphone hack can appear to be a technical issues. These errors, on the other hand, could be a sign of a more significant problem, such as hacking. Phones have grown much beyond their modest call and text features since the introduction of various smartphone operating systems.
Unfortunately, phone hacking is on the rise, hurting device performance and putting your personal information in danger. Continue reading to learn how to recognize the indications of if your phone has been hacked and what you can do to prevent it.
What Is Phone Hacking? How Are Phones Hacked?
Phone hacking is when someone gains unauthorized access to a smartphone, its conversations, or data. Phone hacking can include everything from collecting personal information to viewing personal; phishing attempts, tracking software, and insecure Wi-Fi networks are just a few ways someone may hack a phone.
Let’s see some of the ways how smartphones are hacked:
1. Downloaded a Malicious App:
Only download software from trusted sources such as the Google Play Store, App Store, etc., to avoid getting malware-infected apps. It would help if you also double-checked that the app’s developer is correct and genuine.
Last but not least, go through the application reviews. Most of the feedback should be favorable.
2. Clicked On a Malicious Link:
Avoid opening any associated links or downloading data from unauthorized sources if you receive an email or text from an unknown sender. There’s a potential they’ll come with malware.
If you’re on the internet and come across a link that looks questionable, run it through a website scanner before opening the links.
3. Used Unsecured Public Wi-Fi:
When you use public Wi-Fi to browse your phone, you enhance your phone’s vulnerability to hacking. Use a VPN for security and internet privacy to keep your connection safe.
4. Phishing:
Phishing is a targeted cyberattack that entices victims to click on a malicious link, download a harmful attachment, or transmit personal information. The goal is to gather personal information from the victim at all times.
Phishing attacks are well-planned and employ a certain pitch as bait for specific categories of people. Phishing can exploit your smartphone performance and gather the login credentials of your various social media accounts.
Signs Your Phone Has Been Hacked
If your smartphone demonstrates one or more peculiar behaviors listed below, it’s likely been hacked. Hackers and predators are continually refining their methods, making it more difficult to identify their attacks.
There are, however, some signals that can assist you in figuring out if you’ve been targeted. The following are the most prevalent indications of phone hacking:
1. Pop-ups:
If you’re getting a lot of strange pop-up advertising, your phone might be infected with adware. Avoid these pop-ups at all costs; clicking or opening them could exacerbate the problem.
On your smartphone, bright, flashing adverts or X-rated content could signal infection. Another sign of being attacked can be that you may continue to get annoying pop-ups despite having your ad blocker turned on, or your phone turned off and on again.
2. Unrecognized Texts or Calls:
Receiving messages from numbers you don’t recognize could mean you’ve been targeted by smartphone hacking. If you aren’t anticipating a call from an unrecognized number, don’t pick up until you know who it belongs to.
Check your call and messages activities for any strange activity, and if you notice any number or messages you don’t know, block them and report them as spam.
3. High Data Usage:
It could be a clue of a phone hacker if your internet activities haven’t changed significantly, but your data usage has increased dramatically. A malicious app that runs in the background can consume a lot of data. Examine your apps and remove anything that appears to be suspicious.
4. Battery drains quickly:
Do you find yourself charging your phone more frequently? Is your battery only lasting a fraction of the time it once did? It’s possible that your phone is simply becoming older or that you’re dealing with more than just a battery problem.
Hacking might allow unwanted apps to take over your phone’s resources and fast deplete your battery.
5. Hot phone:
Is your smartphone getting hotter and hotter even when you aren’t using it? Phones, like all devices, heat up with time, especially if you’re playing games or watching movies and videos for extended periods.
However, if this isn’t the case and your phone is still unusually warm, something else could be blamed.
6. Reduced performance:
Is it possible that your phone is dropping calls? Are you unable to receive texts, or are the texts you have sent not being received? Is your phone always stalling, crashing, or restarting without warning?
Malware or unwelcome background apps consuming your phone’s processing power could be why. If you’ve ruled out hackers, you might want to look into resolving crashing smartphone apps.
7. Apps you don’t recognize:
Strange apps should not be installed on your phone if you didn’t install them. A phone hacker can be the one to install. Of course, new phones come with some unnecessary apps pre-installed. So just because you don’t recognize a program doesn’t imply it’s harmful.
Take urgent action if you find weird programs that are difficult to remove and haven’t been installed or recognized.
8. Websites look strange:
Malware can be installed on a hacked smartphone, causing it to redirect you to sites different than the ones you intended to view. If websites appear strange to you, it’s possible that they’ve been redesigned recently or that your phone has been hijacked and you’re being sent to dangerous websites.
What Should I Do If My Phone Is Hacked?
If you’ve discovered that your smartphone has been hacked, there are a few things you can do. Before you begin, inform your contacts that your smartphone has been hacked and that any suspicious-looking links they may have gotten from you should be avoided. There are a few other things you can do.
1. Uninstall Suspicious Apps:
As you know, downloading a suspicious app is a systematic way for malware to infect your phone. If your smartphone has been hacked, go through your programs and uninstall everything that comes from unknown sources.
Verify that any apps you’ve recently downloaded are from reliable developers and have positive reviews. Uninstall them from your smartphone if they don’t.
2. Run anti-malware software:
Anti-malware software can assist you in detecting and removing malware from your phone. You should do this regularly, but now is a fantastic time to begin if you haven’t yet.
A reliable provider’s robust anti-malware app will scan your phone to find and remove anything dangerous. This phase is crucial because if you overlook any leftovers of an attack, the problem will resurface.
3. Reset phone:
A factory reset can eliminate the bulk of viruses from your phone. However, all data stored on your devices, like images, notes, and contacts, will be erased, so make a backup before resetting your smartphone.
4. Change Passwords:
When your phone was hacked, it’s conceivable that your login credentials were breached. Reset all of your passwords and generate new passwords for each account after the infection has been eliminated.
Tips To Keep Smartphones Secure
We’ve already covered some of the methods you might get malware on your smartphone, so be cautious when installing apps, Before clicking on any strange URLs, double-check them and stay away from public Wi-Fi. We’ve listed some more options for keeping your phone safe:
- Avoid keeping sensitive information on your phone, such as credit card numbers. Alternatively, keep them safe in a safe app.
- When you’re not using Bluetooth, turn it off.
- Create a unique passcode to unlock your phone.
- Check your phone regularly for symptoms of strange behavior, such as unusual pop-ups or high battery usage.
Conclusion
Phone hacking is a serious problem lot of us face these days. Hackers and predators can be found on the internet and many other digital platforms. Hackers can exploit your smartphones and breach your personal and sensitive information, login credentials, etc.
Fortunately, there are various methods to know if your smartphone has been hacked or if hackers have targeted you. We’ve included those methods in this article. To keep your device safe from hackers, go through this article.
Apart from that if you want to know about Cell Phone Problems then visit our Tech category.
