The phone… we simply cannot do without out these days. We could forget the important stuff, but God forbid we forget our phone anywhere, unattended. It’s not this way for everyone, but wouldn’t be wrong to say it is for a major population. Work, entertainment, socializing, or staying in touch, it’s become a need for its multifold uses.
While these are the positives, there’s also a lot that goes on that we cannot see. Hacking! People looking to steal significant information from various phones develop techniques to hack into phones, and you won’t even realize when and how it happened.
But there are things you can do to protect your device from getting hacked.
- Don’t use unprotected WIFI’s. Using a public network is one of the most dangerous things for your device since it is open to several people.
- Don’t leave your phone with strangers. If you don’t know someone too well, don’t leave your phone unattended. Take it with you, even if you’re splitting for a couple of minutes to order food or to go to the washroom.
- Use your own USB Charger to charge your phone. Hackers can successfully transfer data when you use someone else’s USB. Carry your charger or a power bank at all times.
- Don’t open the links you receive in random messages. This process is called SMS Phishing. No sooner does one open the link than the hackers transfer the details of all your contacts and apps on their system.
- Avoid making online payments on the public internet.
- The remember password function might not be of good use.
- Protect your phone with a password that others cannot easily guess.
These are some of the techniques hackers use to snoop right into your phone. From tracking your use, banking details, to your contacts, they can dig into it all, and you could end up losing a lot. Sometimes, despite you being careful, your phone could fall into the shackles of a hacker. But there is a way you can know if your phone is hacked. Here are 6 ways to identify.
- No more switch-offs- When you feel like something’s fishy, try switching off your phone. If you’re unable to do it, it means your phone is hacked. Instead, you will observe other kinds of activities on your phone when you try to turn off the device.
- Frequent Low Battery Alerts- Why is it happening suddenly? Because you’re not the only one using that device anymore. The control now lies in two hands, thus leading to frequent low battery alerts. To recognize this, see if this started happening suddenly and how frequently does it happen.
- Disturbance during calls- If your phone is hacked, you’ll probably encounter disturbances during your calls. You could hear white noise, an echo, or other noises in the hacker’s area.
- Unknown recent calls- A hacked device means the hacker is comfortably using all the features on your phone. If you find some unknown numbers in your dial list or received calls list, but you haven’t made or answered any of them, someone else is using it.
- Sudden Actions- Whoever is controlling your phone is trying new things in it. There is a possibility that your phone will suddenly switch off, reboot, make calls, or start/stop applications. If you see this happening, it’s a sign your phone is probably hacked.
- Overheating- Another sign to identify if your phone is hacked is to observe its heating. You might not have used the phone for a long time, but if it is warm, then somebody is doing something on your device from somewhere else. That is why your device is in use, only that you don’t know it.
If you have been observing any such activity on your phone, you should probably get it looked at immediately. Don’t forget to remove all important details from your phone that instant.