Daily Times

Experts warn it is becoming harder to detect spying technology on your phone. As cybercrimes become more widespread, you should make sure you know the signs that your device may be compromised.

Cybercrime has risen in Scotland since lockdown restrictions were introduced in early 2020. A Scottish Government report found that there were an estimated 14,280 cyber-crimes recorded by the police between 2021 and 2022.

While that is similar to the estimated 14,860 cyber-crimes that took place between 2020 and 2021, it is a large jump up from pre-Covid stats which saw an estimated 7,710 cybercrimes recorded in 2019.

Criminals may try to download spyware onto your phone through apps and links. If they gain access to your device they may also gain access to private or personal information, including financial information. Experts warn that it is becoming easier for hackers to access your phone as spying technology is getting harder to detect.

The cyber security experts from VPNOverview have revealed some of the signs that could indicate that hackers are using your phone to spy on you. These warning signs can appear in both iPhone and Android devices.

Signs of spyware on your device

Slow performance

A possible indication of spyware operating on your phone is constant slowing down or lagging. The slow performance of your phone could result from the resource-intensive spyware constantly running in the background, uploading your data, photos, and documents to an external server.

Make sure this isn’t happening by checking your phone for any unfamiliar apps and scanning any hidden apps using an antivirus program. Deleting these may improve the performance of your device.

Random reboots

Is your phone rebooting itself without your authorisation? This can indicate that someone has remote, administrator-level access to your phone.

The hacker can do whatever they want with your device if this is the case. To rule out the presence of spyware, you can update your phone’s operating system, and delete any malfunctioning apps.

If neither of these solutions solves the random reboots, you may have spyware on your phone.

Overheating

An overheating phone can indicate that a malicious app is running in the background, especially if the overheating occurs when the phone is on standby.

You can go into your phone’s settings and check your app list to see which apps use the most resources; apps are usually presented in order of most resource use. Some apps will have legitimate reasons for taking up energy on your phone, but any that use more than they should be the culprit and should be deleted.

Look out for apps by the name of mSpy, Spyera, Flexispy, Umobix, Ikey Monitor, and Clevguard as they could be spyware.

Unusually high data usage

A hacker’s primary goal is to harvest your data, to sell it to the black market or use it to blackmail you. To gather this information, a hacker will remotely access your phone and transfer your files to their server, which requires data usage on your end.

Therefore, if your cellular data usage seems unusually high, this could indicate that something suspicious is going on with your phone. It is a good idea to keep track of your monthly data use to identify any unexpected spikes.

Taking a long time to shut down

If your phone takes a long time to shut down, it may be infected with spyware.

This is because spyware tends to run constantly in the background transmitting your data to third parties, and your phone will be trying to close down all of these hidden programs before it can shut down.

How to remove spyware from your device

If you spot strange looking apps and that you suspect to be spyware you should uninstall them right away. To reduce the risk of future issues you should use a good antivirus program for smartphones that will thoroughly scan your phone for hidden spyware apps.

If you are still concerned you could do a full phone reset to factory settings: this will remove any third-party apps from your phone. However, you should make sure to back up any important files if you decide to take this action

An expert from VPNOverview added: “Modern spyware installed by an advanced hacker is notoriously hard to find on your phone for the average user. Antivirus software such as Norton 360 is recommended to catch any spyware and protect your phone from being infected by spyware in the future.”