How to know whether your phone is hacked

Your phone can get hacked, this is how

A clever cybercriminal knows exactly how to lure you into giving them access to your smartphone. That means anyone can get hacked. Cybercriminals often use spoofing, phishing, or Flubot malware (malicious software) to gain access to your smartphone and valuable data with a single click. The problem is that these methods appear to be legitimate at first glance. Instead, you receive a fake email, a strange text message, or a fake app message asking you to click on a link. The good news is that you can often recognize these methods quickly and prevent yourself from getting hacked.

How do hackers break into your mobile phone?

Hackers, the criminals who break into your phone, tablet, or computer, are constantly finding new ways to get into your device to steal your data, information, and sometimes even money. For example, you might get a call from someone pretending to be from a government agency, to get access to your data, passwords, or verification codes.

The most current methods are spoofing, phishing, and Flubots, which we mentioned before. To help you avoid falling for hackers' tricks, we will explain what they mean below.

Phishing

Hackers often use a form of phishing. With phishing, scammers try to lure people into visiting fake websites. These websites are made to look like copies of a real website, so that you unsuspectingly enter your login name, password, or credit card number. This allows the scammer to get access to your data, which is worth money or can be used to get money. Phishing usually happens via email or phone. The hacker tries to lure you into clicking on a link.

Spoofing

Spoofing is a type of phishing. With spoofing, criminals take on a false identity to extract your data. Just like with phishing, your data is valuable, because hackers can make money from it. For example, criminals pretend to be the tax authorities, your bank, or even a family member, to create an urgent situation.

Spoofing usually happens via email, telephone, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This is what makes it different from phishing: in spoofing, the way of communicating is faked or copied. It's made to look like it's from a company or organization you normally pay money to or share important information with. For example, you receive an email with a payment request from the tax authorities or you receive a text message from your bank telling you to log in to your bank, but in fact it's from a hacker. Banks and organizations often mention that they will never send you a text message to access your computer remotely, or transfer money without your consent. You should ignore such messages.

Flubots

Don't let the name fool you, Flutbots are dangerous. Flubot malware is a virus (app) that gets installed on your phone. Often, they end up on your phone via a link in WhatsApp or text message. The message contains a link that criminals use to impersonate a family member, acquaintance, or company. When you click on the fake link, malware (sometimes in the form of an app) is installed on your phone. The malware gives cybercriminals access to the apps on your phone, allowing them to get to your data.

How do you know if your phone is hacked?

You may be wondering: how do I know if my phone has been hacked? Or maybe you just Googled “how to check if your phone is hacked” to check if your suspicions are correct. So, how do you know if your phone has actually been hacked? There's a chance that you were hacked or fell victim to spoofing, phishing, or Flubots. It's something that can happen to the best of us. There are several signs that can help you recognize this, so we have listed the most common ones below. If your phone shows one of these signs, that doesn’t necessarily mean it has been hacked. But it’s smart to take a closer look. We’ll explain what to check and what you can do

Your smartphone is slow

Do websites take a long time to load, or do apps crash halfway through loading? Has your phone only recently slowed down? It's possible that your phone is being slowed down by malware causing it to respond extremely slowly.

Your phone gets warm without a reason

Is your phone not connected to the charger, but it still heats up when you're not using it? Have you never had this problem before? Someone tampering with your smartphone's software remotely could be the problem (although it doesn't have to be).

Your battery drains faster than before

Have you noticed that your battery has to be charged faster than usual? You're probably wondering what's causing it. Background apps can drain your battery quickly. If you haven't changed any settings and still notice a big difference, it could be a sign that your phone has been hacked, causing more to happen in the background.

There are new apps on your phone (that you didn't install)

Your app library is a place where your most frequently used apps and the apps you'd forgotten about come together. Of course, you don't have a clear picture of all the apps you have. This increases the chance that you won't notice when a fake app with malware is installed on your phone.

Make sure you don't lose track of the apps you installed. Group them if that helps. Want to download a new app on your Android smartphone? Always check whether the app is safe or not. At the App Store, all apps are reviewed before they're up, so there's no chance of installing unsafe apps.

You receive strange pop-ups

Are you getting strange pop-up? That's never a good sign. It could be the case that your phone has been infected with adware, software that displays unwanted ads. Don't click on these, they could seriously harm your phone.

Your favorite websites look different

There's nothing strange about a website having a different banner or (small) change in design. But have you noticed that your favorite websites have a completely different look? This could indicate that your phone has been hacked and that malware is between your phone and the internet, redirecting you to other websites.

Your apps don't work as well

It could mean that your phone has been hacked and malware is consuming your phone's capacity. It could also be something else: you've been postponing updates for a long time. These are not only important for performance but also for the security of your apps, and therefore your phone. It's better to update now, than later.

Restoring your hacked phone

Are you sure your phone has been hacked? Although that’s bad news, there are ways to fix it and get your smartphone back to normal.

Install antivirus software

Antivirus software can reduce the risk of future hacks. It's designed to locate and remove the problem on your smartphone. If this does not solve the problem, it is best to reset your phone to factory settings. It's also best to change the passwords for your most important accounts and apps. An example of a reliable virus scanner is Bitdefender .

Reset your phone to its default settings

Did the antivirus software not help? There is another option to make your phone virus-free: reset it to the factory settings. Before you reset your phone, it is important to make a backup, so you don't lose any of your data, photos, settings, apps, and accounts. If you know what the malicious app is, remove it before making the backup.

How to reset your phone to factory settings:

iPhone:

• Open 'Settings'
• Go to 'General'
• Go to 'Transfer or Reset iPhone'
• Select 'Reset'

Android:

• Open 'Settings'
• Go to 'Backup & Reset'
• Go to 'Reset'
• Select 'Factory Data Reset'

6 tips to protect your phone from hackers

After reading this blog, you should be up to date on all the risks and consequences of phone hacking. But preventing hacking is, of course, always the best way to go. That's why we're sharing some smart tips to help you protect your smartphone from hackers.

1. Don't download untrustworthy apps
2. Don't click on untrustworthy links in emails, apps, or text messages
3. Always use a strong password
4. Always update your apps for the best protection
5. Don't use public Wi-Fi without a VPN
6. Don't store passwords on your phone, but use a password manager instead

Safely swiping and scrolling

Now that you know how to protect yourself against or recover from phone hackers, you should enjoy your time online. At Simyo, you get complete freedom when it comes to your Sim Only or phone subscription . Every month, you can decide how much data you want to use and how much you want to text and call. That way, the perfect bundle is only an adjustment away. Do you have a bigger bundle than you need? That can be adjusted, too.