Phone hackers are becoming more rampant. Security experts are always warning mobile consumers to check if there are any signs of system or hardware breaches.
A visitor checks his mobile phone on day 2 of the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 on February 26, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The annual Mobile World Congress hosts some of the world's largest communications companies, with many unveiling their latest phones and wearables gadgets like foldable screens and the introduction of the 5G wireless networks.
However, cybercriminals and other online attackers are becoming more stealthy. Their malicious campaigns are now more hard to detect.
This is why it is important to know the most common online attack signs that you can check to see if your smartphone has been hacked.
How to Tell if Your Phone Has Been Hacked?
McAfee provided some of the most common signs that you can check to see if your handset is breached. These include the following:
Participants work at their laptops at the annual Chaos Computer Club (CCC) computer hackers' congress, called 29C3, on December 28, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. The 29th Chaos Communication Congress (29C3) attracts hundreds of participants worldwide annually to engage in workshops and lectures discussing the role of technology in society and its future.
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- Check if there are some unknown apps on your device. Once your device is breached, hackers can install applications without you even knowing it.
- If there are sudden pop-ups on your screen, then there's a high chance that your smartphone has been hacked.
- Degraded system performance is also another sign of a smartphone breach. If your device is slow and usually lags, then there could be a malicious app (even malware) installed on your device.
- Also, check if your data usage is higher than normal. You can do this by checking the usage of your apps. If some unknown applications experience too much data usage, cybercriminals might use them to install more malicious files or apps.
Why Phone Hacks Happen
According to Norton's official blog post, there are many reasons why your smartphone can be hacked, such as the following:
- Smartphone owners usually install unknown apps, which can contain malware and other malicious files.
- Unsecured public WiFi can also be used by hackers. This is why it is important to check if the internet service in a public area is trustworthy.
- People tend to be fooled by email or texts, clicking malicious links that will direct them to the malicious websites created by the hackers.
Previously, Google Chrome users were warned because of a new zero-day vulnerability.
On the other hand, a simple iPhone mistake allowed hackers to steal thousands of dollars from a crypto investor.
For more news updates about phone hacks and other security threats, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
