HOW TO KNOW IF YOUR PHONE IS BEING MONITORED AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SPYWARE
Spy software and methods are becoming increasingly subtle and harder to detect, despite all the security measures and features phone manufacturers go to great lengths to incorporate through security patches and software upgrades.
Espionage is a fully-fledged information mining industry, and in some cases, people would go to great lengths to acquire information in whatever way possible. Spying via phone spy software is among the easiest and most effective methods, and cutting-edge technology is ironically the biggest enabler of covert, undetectable espionage activities.
Why would someone spy on you?
For some, it might be obvious, but for a considerable number of people, they would wonder—why would someone want to spy on me? For politicians and journalists, it could be to gain access to critical information or for other stark motives due to the information they have or are privy to.
For most people, from business owners and employees to spouses, it could be related to information about business strategies, financials, court cases, private life, and even seemingly innocuous reasons like advertising and marketing.
How does it work?
If your phone has been handled by someone else at some point in the past, with or without your knowledge—either during repairs or when left charging at your desk—backdoor applications and spyware could have been installed to access or trigger specific applications like GPS, camera, and microphone, among a plethora of other legitimate phone functions.
But it’s often easier for spy apps to be installed via suspicious download links sent to the victim, which seem innocuous when opened but, in reality, have espionage malware being installed in the background.
How to tell if your phone is being spied on
Some signs can be subtle, and some can be apparent if you have some knowledge of what to look out for.
Decreased battery performance
If a phone is bugged, it could be actively listening to conversations even when it appears to be idle, by having the microphone or even the camera turned on. Or it could be actively recording activities, like screen grabs and messages, and forwarding them to a third party. Such relentless activity drains the battery faster since the phone has little to zero downtime.
Overheating
Related to battery usage and performance, a phone that’s constantly in use due to active background applications is likely to overheat or at least feel a tad too warm to the touch, specifically at the back where the battery is located. It might be a tell-tale sign that a lot of unsanctioned activity is going on.
Odd sounds during calls
A tell-tale sign that the phone is being tapped could be clicking sounds, strange distant voices, or static during calls. At times, it might sound like talking into a walkie-talkie.
Increased data usage
While it can be hard to detect for heavy phone and data users, some stalkerware apps consume a considerable amount of data when sending data to third-party recipients, which might raise a red flag for a vigilant user.
Coded text messages
Receiving strange coded text messages like a string of numbers or undecipherable characters might be a sign that either an espionage application is trying to access the phone or it’s working in the background, one way or another. This is especially concerning if the messages are received regularly.
Unusual phone activity
Some queer activities, like seemingly innocuous notification sounds, the screen lighting up, or the phone suddenly rebooting, could be a sign that a third party might have remote access to the phone.
The phone is becoming unusually slow
While several factors can make a phone slower over time, like age and software updates, background processes caused by spyware can eat up the phone’s RAM, leaving little for legitimate tasks. In some extreme cases, a phone might even freeze or crash.
Long shutdown duration
When a phone seems to be taking too long to shut down, it could be a sign that there are illegitimate background processes that the phone needs to complete before shutting down. Some aggressive apps could even stop the process completely until a task they’re running is completed.
How to find spyware on your phone
For Android phones, navigating to settings and looking for running services or running applications can reveal suspicious-looking applications. Almost all spy software will be disguised by obscure names, but some can be easy to spot when they use related names like monitor, stealth, find, search, and so on.
This includes any software that you don’t remember downloading. Before deleting any suspicious-looking software, you must know exactly what they do to avoid deleting software critical to the phone’s functioning. If in doubt, take the phone to someone knowledgeable.
These signs are neither definitive nor exhaustive, but with some due diligence and proactive vigilance, some or all of the described signs can be investigated and any doubts dispelled—for peace of mind.
How you can protect yourself against espionage?
Periodical review of apps
Periodically going through the phone’s apps and checking for suspicious software or those you don’t remember installing is one measure.
Suspicious links
Being wary of any suspicious links or unsolicited messages is a prudent measure to safeguard oneself against possible stalkerware. All an attacker needs is for someone to open the link for the spyware to be covertly downloaded and installed. (See Social Engineering)
Location Sharing
Regularly revising and updating location-sharing for particular phone apps would be a good idea. This would ensure that only trusted apps have permission to access, track, and share location information.
Audits
Periodical audits, particularly for data and battery usage, can help spot discrepancies between expected and actual usage.
Specialized security apps
Mobile privacy protection tools are also an option to consider, particularly for those who use their phones to store, access, and share critical information. Features like VPNs can also come in handy when there is a need to mask data traffic and location.
Software updates
Another critical but often neglected action is periodic software updates. Phone manufacturers, to protect their reputation, usually work hard to spot vulnerabilities and endeavour to roll out security patches for users to download and add another layer of security to their devices. Regularly checking for or accepting software updates when notified can help stave off potential infiltration attempts. A better way is to allow for automatic updates.
Factory reset
This can be another measure with which you can be pretty sure that all downloaded software, apps, and settings are eliminated. This should be fine as long as critical information has been backed up first.
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