How to find out if your phone is hacked

I have had this question come up quite a lot from people asking “hey, how would I know if my phone is hacked, it has been doing some weird things”.

So here is a list of items you should check to assess if your mobile phone might be compromised.

What might show my phone got hacked ?

Check Your Data Usage

Most mobile devices will let you check how much data each app has used up. For apps related to social media it would make sense for them to use up a lot of data. But if you have an app, you barely use, and you can see there is quite a lot of data usage on it. That might indicate that it has been running and sending/receiving data. Compromised apps, may tend to use more data since the attacker may be trying to send data over your phone to their own systems. A good way to measure this is to check your app data usage every month. So, you get to know what the average data usage if for each app you use.

Pop ups or Ads

This one is an obvious one, if you see random ads popping up out of no where. Or random windows pop up on your screen. There is a good chance your phone has malware, and/or an app was installed and could have full access to your mobile device. You should go through ALL your apps to see what you have running on your mobile device. If there is anything that you see which should not be running or installed. Remove the app and check to be sure it was removed with the app no longer showing up as running/installed.

Your Phone gets hot all the time

A phone gets very hot to touch when it’s running an app that takes up a lot of processing power. And, that makes your phone start to heat up. If this is happening to a point where your phone is always super hot to touch. Then chances are a malicious app is running all the time causing your phone to heat up. This is a good chance to view all apps running and see which one has been running the most. It could be an indicator that it is a malicious app and should be removed.

How did I get hacked ?

Stealing Windows Wi-Fi WPA2-PSK Passwords through PowerShell

Stealing Windows Wi-Fi WPA2-PSK Passwords through PowerShell

This week, I was hanging out with a friends, who happened to forget their Wi-Fi Password to connect a new device to their network. I decided, I would find a way and help them out so they could obtain the Wi-Fi password. It then led me to a thought, that a malicious attacker could technically use the same technique. Or, that it could be a good technique used when pen testing an environment. So, therefore, I have decided to make a blog post about it. Enjoy!

Google Data Self Destruct

Google Loves Your Data

Google has been following people around for ages. I always point out to people the fact that they state how they would use Google for everything. Whether it’s for using email, spreadsheets, google drive for file storage, chrome as a browser etc… Yet, none of them ever questioned how Google is not charging them for these services? Let’s face it, no company can provide free services, and yet eat up expenses for too long. When I tell people the fact that Google indeed profits off the data from each user. That is truly when people start to realize, and even question that they may be sharing more than they want with Google.

What do I think about Google keeping tabs?

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2019

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2019

So, I ended up posting this much later than I anticipated. I originally had it ready for October. However, I had to make some final edits and had to delay it. None the less, here it is a month later!

Cyber security awareness month is coming up real soon. In October, it is nationally known as cyber security month. Many security leaders present important security topics. This is also a time where many companies, government units and various organizations educate their members on cyber security. Many hold training workshops, lectures and send out updates to their workers.

I’d like to highlight some key points that readers should try to implement and incorporate in their personal lives and at work.

The US Cert organization has built some excellent cyber security training.

There detailed reports and educational training can be found all for free à https://niccs.us-cert.gov/national-cybersecurity-awareness-month-2019