THE DILLON AGENCY SPECIALTY SERVICES

Mobile Forensics

Is Your Cell Phone Being tapped on or Bugged? Cell phone hacking has become an extremely profitable crime. Go to great lengths to make sure their spy software is undetectable on your cell phone.

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How to tell if your cell phone is being spied on

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Cell phone hackers go to great lengths to make sure their spy software is undetectable on your cell phone. When they covertly install their monitoring spyware, they are able to monitor your calls in real-time along with recording your conversations. If that is not worrisome enough, they also have the ability to listen live to your conversations without you even using your phone. It does not stop there; these technologies cyber spies also know where you are going and where you have been. The photographs and videos on your mobile device are not even safe.

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Do you save passwords on your phone, in the notes or on your web browser? Do you access password protected apps and websites via your cell phone, tablet, or iPad? If so, you can bet, if your mobile device has been hacked, the bad guy have all of your information.

The question we hear all of the time is “how do I know if someone is spying on me through my phone? While here is no easy answer to that question, there are some common signs. Outside of doing a mobile device forensic examination to see if your cellular phone has been bugged.

Unusual Noises or Sounds During Phone Calls

If you hear unusual sounds while on your mobile phone such as your voice feeding back to you or if you hear other suspicious sounds such as clicking or constant poor reception, your cellular or mobile device might be bugged with spy software.

Your Battery Dies Much Faster Than It Used To

One thing we often see in phones that have been compromised with spyware is that the batteries die much quicker than they used to. The reason for this is the software is constantly using your phone’s processor to record and secretly transmit your stolen information to their servers. This uses up your battery life fast. Have you ever noticed that your phone or device seems hot to the touch even if you aren’t using it?
This is another tell-tell sign that your cellular phone or mobile device has been hacked.

You Phone Activity Tracker Shows Activity Even When You Haven’t Used It

Have you checked the activity log on your phone and noticed that it has a significant amount of usage even though you have not used it that much? Have you looked at the websites and programs that used high amounts of data even though you hardly used that program or did not use it at all? This is often caused by cell phone spyware that has hidden itself in several different programs to go undetected. Once the cybercriminal wants to receive your stolen information, the spy software will communicate with all of its fragmented pieces that have been hidden in different programs such as your internet browser, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name just a few. The software is designed to hide in any programs within your phone. Even the program that allows you to dial a number.

Your Mobile Phone Takes Longer To Shut Down Or Power Off
Like your computer, when you start the shutdown mode on your cellular phone, it has a shutdown process that typically lasts only a few seconds. If there is spy software on your phone, it will hurry up and forward your personal information to the cyber-criminal before it shuts down, thus, causing your phone to take longer to shut down.

Receiving Spam or Weird Text Messages
Do you ever receive spam text messages or weird and unsolicited text messages on your cell phone or mobile device? This is a common way for a data thief to communicate with your mobile phone and trigger the spy software. This is an example of what would happen: You receive a text message offering you a “special discount to save up to 75% off of your next purchase of 100% cotton towels.” These specific words act as a code to the software telling it to do a specific command such as send all username, passwords, and the website and apps they belong to.

Resetting Your Phone to Factory Reset Is No Longer a Safe Way to Get Rid of Spy Software

In the less advanced days of spy software, it used to be all you had to do was restore your phone factory settings to the original settings as if you just bought a brand-new phone. Our mobile phone forensic investigators are learning that this is no longer the case. What we have been seeing lately is the spy software is so advanced that it installs itself into the root files of your mobile device in the different programs such as the Safari web browser, your notes program, or even the program that reads your battery life. Once rooted in these programs it is there to stay unless you have the ability to read the programs code and see the spyware.

We are seeing this problem across all phone operating systems such as Android and iPhone’s IOS.

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