22 red flags someone is spying on your phone

“You might also notice calls and texts that you haven’t sent to numbers in your list of contacts. Ensure that you monitor this activity closely as some of these could be premium-rate numbers that malware is forcing your phone to contact with all the proceeds landing in the pocket of the person who has compromised your phone.” –Rob Webber, mobile expert, and CEO and founder of MoneySavingPro.com

“Another sign of a compromised smartphone is spammy pop-ups or weird screensavers. While not all pop-ups indicate that your phone has been infiltrated, an increasingly high number of pop-ups could be a sign that your phone has been infected with a form of malware called adware that forces devices to view specific sites that drive revenue through clicks.” –Rob Webber, mobile expert and CEO and founder of MoneySavingPro.com

“If your phone has been hacked you might notice some unusual activity, such as security messages notifying you that your email or social media account has been accessed using a new device, password reset links, or verification emails saying that you have signed up to new accounts that you are unfamiliar with.” –Rob Webber, mobile expert and CEO and founder of MoneySavingPro.com

“Never leave your device unattended in public. While many threats exist online, you still have to be aware of real-world threats, like someone grabbing your device when you’re not looking. Keep your smartphone on you, or within view, while in public. If you have a ‘phone visibility’ option, turn it off. This setting allows nearby devices to see your phone and exchange data with it. Also, remember not to save password or login information for banking apps and other sensitive accounts. You don’t want a hacker to be able to automatically log in as you if they do gain access to your device.” –Gary Davis, Chief Consumer Security Evangelist at McAfee. Read about these bizarre things that thieves have stolen.

“This is becoming a bigger problem for consumers, as criminals are hiding malware or malicious capabilities inside of apps that appear legitimate or may even perform some legitimate service, like a mobile game. Google Play is more likely to have infected apps than Apple’s App Store because Google does not vet these apps as vigorously. It’s also possible to hit the phone with a remote exploit, but this is very unlikely unless some foreign government is after you.” –Alex Hamerstone, GRC practice lead at TrustedSec

Here are 12 password mistakes hackers hope you’ll make.

“There are several notable signs that your phone might have been hacked: You receive a text message or an email notification from your mobile carrier about an account change you didn’t make and, thirty minutes later, your mobile phone has no signal, even after a reboot. You can’t log into your email. You’re locked out of your bank account.

“This is called a number porting attack, and it’s effective against Androids and iPhones on all mobile carriers. Typically, threat actors only need a date of birth and an account number for this attack to succeed.

“If you think you’re a victim of a number porting attack you should immediately call the police and let them know that your mobile number has been ported out and that you’re a victim of identity theft. You must call your mobile provider, of course, and may need to show them a police report to prove that you are a victim of identity theft.

“Plan on spending days changing the passwords for all the accounts where you used your mobile number and even more days working with banks and creditors where the threat actor set up fraudulent accounts using your stolen identity.” –Kayne McGladrey, IEEE Member and Director of Security and Information Technology at Pensar Development

“While common, humming, static, or other weird noises could be a sign that someone is tapping your line. Though all phones might have strange noises from time to time, you should check if there are other signs if you notice them. This is especially the case if you hear them when your phone is not in use.” –Robert Siciliano, Security Awareness Expert, and CEO of Safr.Me.

“If something seems weird with your mobile phone, try shutting it down. Watch how it reacts when you shut it down. Phones that have been hacked often won’t shut down correctly or never shut down, even though you tell it to.” –Robert Siciliano, Security Awareness Expert, and CEO of Safr.Me

Learn about some of the alarming things a hacker can do once they have your email address. 

“This is more common than you might think and a very serious risk. Both of these services keep a lot of information about you, such as passwords, photos, your current location, messages and calls.

“You might think no one would want your photos, but it’s common for them to hold your photos ransom. You might also think there’s nothing in your email, but your email address is likely the backup for every online account you have. With enough information in your email, it would be easy to steal your identity.

“One way to notice this is happening is if you start getting password reset emails. That could mean a number of things, but changing your email password and checking the security on your account is a good idea. Always create a strong password, enable login notifications for new computers or locations, and enable two-factor authentication. This makes it so that your account can’t be accessed without access to your cell phone. Both of these services have easy security check features that should be used regularly.” –Matthew Woodley, Woodley Digital Marketing

“If someone’s iCloud account is hacked, the hacker would be able to see where all their devices are, see all their data stored on iCloud, lock their devices via anti-theft features, etc. This kind of thing generally happens when a person re-uses a password on multiple sites, and one of those sites is compromised. The best way to prevent that is to use unique passwords on every site, which are stored in a password manager and enabling two-factor authentication on every account possible.” –Thomas Reed, Director of Mac and Mobile at Malwarebytes

Here are 9 ways your computer password will get you hacked.