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An ethical hacker explained numerous warning signs that your phone has been compromised by a cyber criminal and what to do about it.
The hacker, Laura Kankaala, is the Threat Intelligence Lead for Finnish cybersecurity firm F-Secure.
She tells DailyMail.com that an overheating phone or a random green light on a screen are two possible signs that your phone has been hacked.
If you see a green dot on the Android screen or an orange dot on the iPhone, it could be a warning sign you’ve been hacked, or someone has installed a dodgy app on your phone, Kankaala said.
She said that these warning dots appear when the device’s microphone or camera is in use – and it can be a warning sign that a phone is running malicious software meant to spy on people.
“Malware may record audio with your microphone, read your messages or track your location,” said Kankaala.
“Cyber criminals can employ malware like this or even an abusive person you know in the form of stalkerware.”
She says the best ways to avoid these things happening to you is to review and delete any apps on your phone you are unfamiliar with or don’t remember downloading.
You can also run a virus scan application and if worse come to worse, try factory resetting your phone.
If you have an iPhone you can also check which apps are using your camera, microphone or location by going into Settings and turning on the App Privacy Report.
If your device is inexplicably overheating, that also could be a sign that you’ve been hacked.
“You may find weird-looking apps that you either can’t remember installing on your phone or apps you may have accidentally downloaded outside of the official app store – for instance, someone sends you a text message urging you to download an app,” said Kankaala.
“Sometimes these apps try to camouflage themselves and change the app name to something that resembles phone settings or anything that makes you feel like they might be legitimate. It may also be tough, if not impossible, to delete these apps directly.”
If you start getting emails from your bank or social media apps asking if you want to change your password, it can be a sign that your credentials have been stolen.
Criminals can do this via phishing attacks, where victims are persuaded to visit a fake website.
“The attacker has not necessarily backdoored your phone – it could be that they have stolen access to your online services such as your critical email or iCloud credentials, or even social media apps that you predominantly use via your phone,” she explained.
Kankaala also warns to be wary of phone calls that appear to come from your bank.
“It’s very easy to impersonate phone numbers of financial institutions or other well-known parties and attempt to manipulate you to do something that’s against your best interest – for instance, do an instant monetary transaction or give out your credentials to online services,” said Kankaala.