I recently read an article that talked about spyware on cellphones. I get worried about mine, wondering if it%26#039;s been infected. http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=9鈥?/a>
That%26#039;s the article I read. My phone is only a couple months old. I hardly use it during the day, and the battery dies easily sometimes. I have internet enabled, and for almost two months I left my cellphone%26#039;s Bluetooth on. I read that someone can install it via Bluetooth and I%26#039;d never know.
Sometimes I hear weird static in my conversations. It%26#039;s very disruptive, whereas it sounds like the noise you get when you turn your TV on to the channel with all the black and white dots.
I was wondering what I should do? I have put my number online before, for business purposes and such. I%26#039;m worried, and I think I should just take the precaution of using a new phone and changing my number. But as I read in the article, the girl who was being stalked even changed her phone and number and the calls continued.
How can I get away from this??|||Hi,
The symptoms you specified seem to indicate that you might have cell phone spyware on your phone. Here are the top 5 ways to detect it.
1) Have you kept your phone with you at all times? There is absolutely no way to install commercial cell phone spyware without physical access to your phone. If you are 100% sure nobody has used your mobile, then the odds of your phone having spyware on it is slim. Keep in mind that it only takes a few minutes for someone to quickly install cell spyware, so even if you let someone borrow your phone to make a quick call, download the latest new ringtone, game, or wallpaper, then you could be at risk.
2) Unusually High Bill? Have you recently started to see an increase in your cellular bills? Or perhaps you%26#039;ve been shocked to suddenly see an unusually large bill? Spy phone software requires a data connection (such as GPRS) to transfer the data that has been secretly recorded. If you%26#039;e not the kind of person who enjoys surfing the net on their phone, or frequently downloads ring tones, and games, then sudden changes in your bill, especially due to increased data usage, is a good sign that your cellphone could be infected.
3) Battery Drain? Have you been grabbing your cellphone%26#039;s charger more than usual? Cell spy software runs continuously in the background, recording events such as incoming/outgoing text messages, call history, and GPS location. It then uploads the logs to a secure remote server so the person who installed the spyware can access the logs and view everything recorded. All of this takes a bit of juice to make happen, so if you suddenly see a drop in your battery life, then it could also be a sign you have cell phone spyware on your phone.
4) Shut Down Problems? If you try to shut down your cellphone and it doesn%26#039;t respond, then this could also be another indication that your mobile has spyware on it. Because these spy apps continuously runs in the background, they occasionally cause problems when a person attempts to shut the device down. Think of when you use Windows. I%26#039;m sure you can remember several instances where you tried to shut down your computer, but ran into problems because another program wouldn%26#039;t respond. The same thing periodically occurs on devices that have cell spyware software installed.
5) Check Your Icons! Have you recently started to see strange new icons on your phone? Or does the GPRS indicator icon suddenly appear for no reason? Remember, cell phone spyware requires a data connection, and when this happens, most cell phones will briefly show an icon that indicates a connection is occurring.
So what can you do if you think you have cell phone spyware on your phone? The only way to completely remove the spy phone software, is to reinstall the operating system. This can be done at the place of purchase. Just take it in and tell them that you think someone has installed spyware on your phone, and then they%26#039;ll proceed to reinstall the OS. There also free programs online that claim to detect and remove cell phone spyware, but the only way to be 100% sure, is to get your phone wiped, and then get a fresh install of the OS.
If you were nodding %26quot;yes%26quot; to some or all of the above items (from your questions, it seemed batter drain is the big one), then the next question I would ask would be the type of cell phone you have.
Most of the commercial spy software can only be installed on smartphones, such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, etc. If you have one of these phones, then it%26#039;s possible.
In the end, the only way to really be sure is to get a new installation of the operating system installed. Changing the SIM card wont work because most of the higher priced spyware will notify the person doing the spying that your number has changed, and will forward your new number.
Hope this helps.|||Personally I%26#039;ve never heard of phone spyware nor did I think it could get spyware. But then again I don%26#039;t really use the internet on my phone. I would recommend you go to manufactures of the current phone you have and talk to them about it. If they say it%26#039;s possible then you can go ahead and get a new phone but if they say it%26#039;s absurd well problem solved.
