How Do You Know If Your Smartphone Has Been Hacked

How Do You Know If Your Smartphone Has Been Hacked

From online shopping to instant messaging, our smartphones have become an essential part of our lives. As the technologies are immensely growing, so do hackers’ strategies and tactics to compromise our data security. To keep your privacy and sensitive information protected, it’s essential to keep an eye on your smartphone’s behavior.

Here’s How To Know If Your Smartphone Has Been Hacked!

1. Significant Reduction In Battery Life

When you notice an inevitable decrease in battery life over time, it means any spy application or malware is using your smartphone’s resources to transmit your data to their server.

2. High Data Usage

Another sign of hacked smartphones is high data usage which can also come from spy applications or malware running in the background.

3. Dull Performance

Do you find specific applications crashing or your smartphone often freezing? This is because malware is clashing with other applications or overloading your smartphone’s resources. Moreover, some applications continuously run no matter how many times you try to close them, and eventually, the phone crash or restart repeatedly.

4. Outgoing Texts Or Calls You Didn’t Initiate

If you notice the list of texts or calls to unknown numbers, be careful as these might be premium-rate numbers that cyber-criminals are trying to contact with your phone.

5. Suspicious Pop-Ups

Constant inappropriate advertisements pop-ups indicate that the adware is infecting your smartphone. Adware is a kind of malware that forces smartphones to view particular pages so that cyber-criminals can drive revenue through clicks. Not all pop-ups indicate that your device has been hacked. However, some of them can be phishing links that encourage users to enter sensitive information such as credit card details.

6. Strange Activities On Linked Accounts

When hackers gain access to your smartphone, they can also access all the accounts linked to the device — from emails to productivity apps to social media. So watch out for unusual activities such as password reset, marking unread emails, sending emails, or signing up for suspicious accounts whose OTP land in your inbox.

How Can Someone Hack My Phone?

Cybercriminals can easily hack your smartphone if you have:

• Downloaded a suspicious application

Download applications only from Apple App Store or Google Play Store and not from other strange sources to avoid downloading any malware attached to the application. Also, ensure that majority of the application’s reviews are positive.

• Clicked on a suspicious link

If you receive a text or an email from a stranger, avoid clicking the links and documents attached. If you’re surfing the internet and come across a malicious link, always check it from a website scanner before opening it.

• Used public Wi-Fi

Using public Wi-Fi maximizes the possibility of your smartphone being vulnerable to hacking. Therefore, always use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to keep the connections safer and online privacy protected.

The Key Takeaway

Thinking of your smartphone being hacked is certainly scary; however, you can take several steps to prevent it from happening. Regularly monitor your smartphone’s activity and pay attention to what you’re going to download or click.