In easy steps, experts define the recipe for protection from phone hacking.
With the wide spread of smartphones connected to the Internet, many users are afraid of hackers hacking their phones and accessing their private information, such as account numbers, important conversations, photos, and others.
Experts recommend several measures that can be taken to secure our privacy and prevent our phones from being hacked. Engineer Walid Abdel Maqsoud, a consultant in information security, says that there is a difference between espionage and technical penetration.
An information security consultant makes important points for understanding the process of hacking mobile phones:
- Conducting espionage and hacking operations by ordinary people is not free; rather, tools purchased for money or bartered are used.
- There are some ordinary people who possess some skills and tools by virtue of their specialization, such as students of technology colleges or those interested in this field, who may take advantage of the lack of awareness and hack the phones o those around them without their knowledge.
- The Wi-Fi service can be exploited for penetration through a device previously prepared for the process of breaking the system protection and penetration of the network, where the "router" password is obtained, users on the network are known, and devices that are weak in terms of security are hacked.
- Companies spy on and hack information with the aim of ad tracking, as the user's privacy is breached for commercial purposes.
- Manufacturers of mobile phones leave open backdoors in operating systems and gaps that allow access to the phone and hacking, and these gaps are known only to a secret security sector of developers who have knowledge of the code of these gaps.
- Some countries refuse to trade phones manufactured in other countries for fear of espionage and penetration, which we see in the United States refusing to import some phones manufactured in China and communication networks such as the fifth generation of communications networks.
- The highest degree of espionage is carried out by governments that have intelligence arms that have special skills in quickly obtaining and exploiting information and displaying their strength in this field.
- not allowing the download of applications from external sources and relying on the official sources of applications for each phone.
- Pay attention to the danger of trading free children's games on users' phones, which contain pop-up advertisements, and when accessing them, the user switches from being on the phone securely to outer space to sites that raise curiosity, "such as porn sites," and that contain spy viruses that transmit information to third parties.
- Do not leave our mobile phones in the hands of some individuals who may use them to copy applications and access device information.
- Be careful not to open the microphone illegally, which is done through the permissions that are made for applications, and we call it "authorized hacking," that is, with the permission of the user. Applications can be downloaded here to scan the phone and determine which devices have the ability to open and close the microphone.
- Pay attention if the phone shoots involuntarily; this may mean that there is remote control of the camera, and some special programs must be used to prevent the exploitation of the camera.
to stay away from free games and applications that contain many ads, because clicking on these pop-up ads on smartphones opens back doors that allow phones to be easily hacked.
- Pay attention to signs such as slow phone use, unjustified high temperatures, or abnormal consumption of the Internet package, which may mean that the phone has been hacked.
- Considering the phone's type and operating system, each phone has its own operating system.
- Periodic updating of the operating system by connecting the mobile to the Wi-Fi service, because this update is issued by the official company due to the presence of some risks in cyberspace.
- Children should not use adult devices because this is a way to hack the phone through children downloading applications without awareness, as applications and games contain pop-up programs that refer the user to unreliable or unusual sources such as porn sites, or white windows appear without content, and during the period of their opening they are installed with viruses, spyware, or malware on the device.
- The process of insuring against penetration is an ongoing process that needs to raise permanent awareness of modern technologies and programs.