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How to Know if your phone has been hacked

How to tell if your phone has been hacked

Your phone has been hacked? Don’t worry and we hope you are safe but how would you know if you are being spied?. Let’s learn how to detect intrusion and remove the hacker from your phone.

Everybody now days carry a smartphone as it makes our lives much easier and keeps us synced with the world. Most of us are not technically aware of the security of our device because we don’t even realize that it can be used to spy on us without our consent. We use a lot of apps to get our job done but do you know that a 100kb app can be used to send your confidential data to a hacker? And if you are not technically sound you will never realize that your phone has been compromised or you have been hacked!

A wrong click on the internet can download malware or keyloggers in your device and the horrible part is that these malwares are advanced enough to hide from the installed app directory so it won’t be visible in the installed app list.

Also Read17+ Top hacking Android apps

These malwares are so advanced these days that it only sends the data to the hacker at night time when you are not using your phone and as soon as you start using your device, it stops all the communication. This way you will never find out that something is wrong. So, how do we know if our phone has been hacked? If not then what we can do to make it secure?

How to know if your phone has been hacked, Let’s see.

Today we will share every necessary method to find if your phone has been hacked or not and what you can do to protect yourself.
First, let us learn some normal changes or abnormal behavior your device shows right after your device has been hacked are-

Rapid Battery drain – Malware running in the background uses your device resources and hence increases battery usage. So you would notice the battery performance issue.

Unknown Apps – You may find unknown apps in your device which were not installed by you.

Performance/ Heating issue – There is a high possibility that your phone’s performance may degrade but this could also happen when you update/upgrade your device OS. If you recently updated your device then wait for some time it will fix on its own or with next update. These two reasons rapid battery drain and performance issue causes overheating.

Increased data use – if your data consumption has increased more than you use, it is a good sign that your device is broadcasting your confidential data.

Popups – You may notice popups being displayed on your screen asking you to perform a certain action or display ads which are basically marketing efforts to advertise their product. Anyway, you would not want that.

Blocked emails – If your messages don’t reach the destination and are being blocked by spam filters this means that your email configuration has been changed and is being redirected to some unauthorized servers.

These were some basic techniques used to find out about your device integrity but does not necessarily mean that you were hacked. It will definitely give you some idea about your device security status and you can use your knowledge to decide what’s normal and what’s not and probably come to the conclusion if your phone has been hacked or not.

Also ReadDownload paid premium Android apps for FREE

Secret Android codes and how to use them
We have managed to collect some useful codes which will help you to secure your device if you are being tracked. These are inbuilt features of Android OS. Enter all codes from your dial pad.

*#21# – Diversion code

This code will tell if your calls, SMS and other data are being diverted to along with where your data and voice is being forwarded.

*#62* – The Redirection Code

If your friends and family say that your number is in no service or no answer then there is a possibility that your calls are being intercepted somewhere down the line. This code will give you a list of numbers that are receiving your calls, SMS and data as redirection.

*#*#197328640#*#* or *#*#4636#*#*: The Utility Netmonitor Code

This code allows you to track if some is tracking you. To find out just enter the code *#*#197328640#*#* or *#*#4636#*#* and select the UMTS Cell Environment, then choose UMTS RR info and note down all the numbers under the cell id.
Now return to the main menu and click on MM info tab > Serving PLMN and note down all the numbers under the local area code (LAC).
After noting down the numbers open the site (OpenCellID) and enter both cell id and local area code. It will give you the location where the phone is connected to.

*Note- dial *#06# and note down the IMEI number(s) and save it on other than your phone. You can use this number to track your device.

What if your phone has been hacked?

If the results are negative, cheers, but if not what you should do to protect yourself? Now enter the code ##002# in your dial pad, this will deactivate all your call forwarding and switch off all redirections from your phone.

Install a reputable antivirus and scan your phone completely. Sometimes malware is so advanced that they can even bypass the scan. If results are still same then take backup of your important files and wipe your phone with the factory reset.

Also ReadHow to bypass WiFi login page

Protect yourself from further breaches by encrypting your data by going to setting>security (on most phones). But before that put your phone on charging then start encrypting because it can take a few hours to fully encrypt your data. It can damage your phone if your device shuts down while encrypting the data. Its better you plug in your charger.

Finally, once you have secured your phone remember not to install apps from unknown source. Always install from Playstore and keep the setting “Unknown sources” disabled so that even if you try to install malicious app unintentionally your device will warn you.

This was all about “How to know if your phone has been hacked”. We hope you liked this article and if found useful, do share it with your friends and family members to protect them as well.

Jai Singh

Love reading and writing about technology, trying new stuff, and spreading the same in the easiest way possible.

7 thoughts on “Your phone has been hacked, What to do Now?

  • Gitesh Mehta

    I seriously need help.My phone is constantly getting hacked from last 4 months.

    I am not able to figure out to how to resolve the issue.I took the phone to service centre but they also couldn’t find out the problem.

    Mere phone ko mai 100 se zaada baar format kar chuka hu aur samsung ke service centre se use flash bhi karwa chuka hu.Uske bawajood wo baar baar hack ho raha hai.

    Mai jese hi phone format kar ke naya sab kuch start karta hu aur gmail account banata hu to turant wo gmail account hack ho jaata hai.

    Unknown device se mere account me sign in hota hai aur koi unknown device unknown location se mera phone number mere gmail account se connect kar deta hai.Mere contacts aur notes me bhi baar baar gadbad ho rahi hai.

    Reply
    • Hi Gitesh, looks like you are in some serious problem. Normally flashing the ROM with fresh one helps but in your case it didn’t. You have done everything I would have suggested. I will further research about this and will contact you for sure with a solution. Do you use the same email on your PC? If so then may be the hacker has access to your PC. Try making a new gmail id with a new phone number and before flashing change the IEMI number then flash. Till you don’t have a solution try using a different phone.

      Good Luck!!

      Reply
      • My friend’s has hacked her phone and had got all the messages and call details , even now he use to get statement regarding her call and messages, she can’t stop him from getting assess to her phone, please suggest any solution of how he wouldn’t be able to access all this data, I think he has installed any spy app on her phone , please help me sir

        Reply
        • Jai Singh

          Ask him to factory reset the phone and this should fix or remove any backdoor or spyware. Even if this doesn’t work ask your friend to take his/her phone to the service center and tell them to install a fresh copy of the ROM. This will certainly fix the issue and after that change all passwords.

          Let me know if this helped you or not.

          Good Luck!!

          Reply
  • Anonymous

    My phone is hacked.I did factory reset as told by everyone but it didn’t work for me.i don’t know the source.My settings has been changed.Sometimes I find new apps which are not installed by me and much more.i don’t know why factory reset is not working for me.Is there any solution for this?

    Reply
    • Jai Singh

      You can try flashing a fresh copy of the ROM (Official). This will certainly remove any malicious file or any hidden back door. There are a lot of tutorials on the web for the same. You will have to root, install custom recovery and then flash the phone with fresh copy of ROM.

      Hope it helps!!

      Reply
      • My friend’s phone was hacked.The hacker is her bf.He can read every sms,whatsapp messages,can know who she(my friend the victim) is calling,has access to contacts,etc.So I told her to hard reset the phone.She did it.Everything went fine until she reinstalled True Caller App.Then again her bf(Hacker) has access to her phone again.He can read her whatsapp messages,Know who she is calling,know who she is sending to.fortunately he cant read sms but know whom she is sending to.Therefore I request you to solve this priblem.Hard Reset work for sometime but not 4 long when she installed true caller again.I think true caller is the main culprit.

        Reply

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