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 ?

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

Cybersecurity for Small Businesses

Cybersecurity for Small Businesses

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has recently created a whole section on cybersecurity awareness for small businesses. It can be viewed here –> https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/small-businesses/cybersecurity.

Best of all, the resources are all free to read and use within your own organization. When I first heard of the FTC doing this, I was glad because many smaller businesses find it difficult to obtain free security resources and expertise. There are a lot of small businesses that either state they have no resources, or they lack the funds for information security and awareness. Well, the posted information by the FTC is a great way for businesses to measure their current security practises.

What will I learn ?

Some of the topics discussed are:

• ransomware
• phishing emails
• cyber insurance
• physical security
• information regarding the NIST framework
• email security 

Read The Full Post

DNSTwist – Domain Phishing Enumeration

DNSTwist – A Look at Domain Phishing Enumeration

A few weeks ago, I happened to stumble upon a tool called DNSTwist. And, like every tool I ever encounter, I always like investigate more into a tools capabilities and what it can offer. After reading more about the tool through another blog I was reading at that time. I was pointed towards the official Github page for DNSTwist. The tool itself is great and something every company should at least look at on a yearly basis. Phishing attacks are on a rise, and the expectation is that they will continue to increase over time. So, I’ve decided to create a very quick tutorial on how to use DNSTwist, and what it can offer for anyone that wants to make use of it. This is a great tool for Pen Testers and Security Analysts!

What can DNSTwist do for me?

I found using this tool gave me great insight into major phishing attacks that could be conducted against users or companies. Now how is this a good thing? Well, if you know the type of attacks that can take place, or how a certain attack can take place. Then, you are better able to find ways to defend against this type of attack. At the minimum, you can at least detect this specific type of attack. In my experience there are more stats revealing that there is now a rise in phishing attacks against companies and users.

So how does this tool help me? (more…)