Laura Kankaala, a professional hacker, has shared signs that your smartphone has been hacked
Cybercriminals may live in the shadows of the digital world, but a professional hacker has shared signs that they are lurking on your smartphone.
White hat hacker Laura Kankaala is trained to be ethical, but uses malicious techniques to help the average person stay safe.
She said a device overheating or a random green light on a screen could mean someone is watching you.
Other signs include certain emails and phone calls that may make you tired.
Kankaala runs the Finnish 'white hat' (as opposed to criminal 'black hat') hacking collective KyberVPK and has appeared in a TV series in which she hacks everything from smart home devices to cars.
“As an ethical hacker, you would know someone is in your phone because I would tell you and help you remove my access,” she said.
A dot will appear on the screen
If you see a green dot on the Android screen or an orange dot on the iPhone, it could be a warning that you have been hacked, or that someone has installed an untrustworthy app on your phone, Kankaala said.
She said these warning dots appear when the device's microphone or camera is in use – and could be a warning sign that a phone is running malicious software intended to spy on people.
If you see a green dot on the Android screen, it could be a warning that you have been hacked or someone has installed an untrustworthy app on your phone
“Malware can record audio from your microphone, read your messages, or track your location,” Kankaala says.
“Cybercriminals can use this type of malware, or even an abusive person you know in the form of stalkerware.”
It may help to check your apps and uninstall unknown apps, or try resetting your phone to factory settings or running a virus scanning application, Kankaala advises.
On iPhone, you can check which of your apps are using the camera or microphone by going to the phone's Control Center and looking at the dots icon at the top.
This should reveal which apps are using your microphone, camera or location.
The orange dot, which may also appear orange, means that your device's microphone is currently in use
You can also go to Settings and enable the App Privacy Report to see an up-to-date log of which apps used your sensitive 'permissions' and when.
Your phone is getting warm
The phone heating up could be a warning sign that malicious software has been installed, Kankalaa says.
“When continuous location sharing is enabled, your phone's battery will inexplicably drain quickly and you may feel your phone heating up,” she continued.
“You may find strange-looking apps that you don't remember installing on your phone, or apps that you accidentally downloaded outside the official app store. For example, someone sends you a text message asking you to download an app.
“Sometimes these apps try to camouflage themselves and change the name of the app to something that looks like phone settings or something else that makes you feel like it's legitimate. It can also be difficult, if not impossible, to remove these apps directly.'
You receive emails from social media apps
If you receive emails from your bank or social media apps asking you to change your password, this could be a sign that your login details have been stolen.
Criminals can do this through phishing attacks, where victims are persuaded to visit a fake website.
It is crucial to act quickly, Kankalaa advised.
“The attacker didn't necessarily put your phone behind the door. He may have stolen access to your online services, such as your important email or iCloud login credentials, or even social media apps that you use primarily on your phone,” she says.
'In the event that someone with criminal intent has stolen your login details, you will likely notice this if access to your services is blocked after he or she changes your password.'
Your bank calls you
Hackers don't need to install untrustworthy apps to target you on your phone and often attack using calls and text messages, Kankalaa warned.
Even if the numbers are correct for your bank, it could still be a scam.
“One of the easiest ways to target people who use cell phones with different types of scams is through text messages and phone calls,” says Kankalaa.
'It is very easy to impersonate telephone numbers of financial institutions or other known parties and try to manipulate you into doing something that is against your interests, for example making an instant money transaction or passing on your login details to online services.'
