4 Scary Signs That Your iPhone Has Already Been Hacked

Experiencing a hack on your phone is one of the worst threats you face as a smartphone owner. If you’re like many people, you have a ton of information stored on your phone and the idea of someone swiping your passwords and any data you have stored on your device is terrifying. What’s worse: you may not even be aware of it happening until it’s too late. Matt Boddy, CTO and Co-Founder of Traced Mobile Security, spoke to SHEFinds.com about the four scary signs that your iPhone has already been hacked.

Shutterstock

Your first sign that your phone is being hacked appears when you follow the money: Your phone bill will be higher than normal, and you’ll see outgoing calls or texts on the bill that you don’t recognize, according to Boddy. “A higher-than-normal phone bill could be related to premium rate SMS fraud triggered by a malicious app to send texts or make calls,” Boddy says.

 

Another sign is a spooky one: an acquaintance or friend will suddenly seem to know a lot more about you. “Someone you know might have installed stalkerware to your phone, and they now have access to your messages, emails, photos, location and more,” Boddy says.

Shutterstock

Your data usage may also be affected if you’ve been hacked and could be higher than normal. “Some forms of malware, such as spyware and stalkerware, send information to and from your device, causing your data usage to increase if you’re not always connected to WiFi,” Boddy says.

Shutterstock

Have you noticed that your battery is dying quicker than it normally does? “This would indicate something in the background might be running that’s using a lot of power, although this can be caused by many things,” Boddy says. So, while battery drainage isn’t a sure sign of a hack, it’s something to keep on your radar if you’re noticing other evidence that your phone has been hacked.

Shutterstock

If your phone shows all of the signs that it has been hacked, the best thing you can do is take the following next steps, according to Boddy:

 

1. Change your password for each online account you have (banks, email, social media, iCloud, app stores etc) and set up…