How to handle hacked/virus infected phone

In the current era of the Internet of Things (IoT), every electronic device that supports internet connection is at risk of being hacked/infected with viruses. Mobile phones are of course no exception.

Smartphones can be considered an indispensable item for many people. Not only is it a means of entertainment and work. The phone is sometimes also a place to store personal information and important data of each person. So what to do when the phone is hacked or infected with malware ? Below are some issues you need to pay attention to.

How to know if your smartphone has been hacked or contains malware?

Basically, signs that your phone has been hacked or is being tampered with by malicious elements from outside include:

• Battery drains quickly even when not in use
• The phone is running much slower.
• Sometimes strange situations happen like apps suddenly appearing or unfamiliar calls or messages suddenly appearing.

Note: Phone hacks often result in online accounts stored on the device being affected as well. So if you notice that your phone may have been hacked, immediately take steps to ensure you have control over all online accounts on the device such as Facebook, Gmail, and many other applications.

Reasons why phones get hacked

Your phone can be hacked for a variety of reasons, not always within your control:

• Clicking on links on malicious websites online results in malware being downloaded and installed on the device.
• Clicking on fake links attached in phishing emails can also cause malware to be installed on the system.
• Hack SIM card.
• Hackers break into phones through Bluetooth or public Wifi connections .

Regardless of the actual cause, smartphone hacks often lead to similar consequences: Malicious actors will try to steal data on the device for their own gain in some way, using your phone as a tool to carry out various malicious acts.

How to deal with hacked/virus infected Android phone

You can “clean” your phone and identify malicious attacks by using the following measures:

1. First, enable Safe Mode on your Android . Once this feature is enabled, remove any newly installed or unrecognized apps from your Android (try to look for hidden apps as well). Uninstalling unrecognized or recently installed apps can help remove any potential malware you may have accidentally installed through these apps.

(Why should you enable Android Safe Mode before deleting apps? In this mode, Android will disable all third-party apps running on the system. This will also essentially prevent unnecessary background apps from launching, making it easy for you to delete unwanted apps from your phone without any errors).

2. Install and launch antivirus software for Android . These apps will scan your phone for malicious files and apps and delete them permanently.

3. If you have rooted your Android phone , it means that areas of the system that are normally protected by security privileges have also been opened, making the system more vulnerable to attacks. To solve this, you will need to use one of the root apps like SuperSU to unroot the device and return it to its original security state.

3. Reset your Android lock screen and system PIN. This will ensure that if a hacker gains access to your login information and attacks your phone that way, they won't be able to access it again after you restart your device. You can also lock apps using the screen pinning feature for an extra level of security.

4. Reset your account password. You may need to reset your login information for important online accounts on the system such as Facebook, Gmail, Office365… To ensure security.