It is almost impossible to find a person who does not use a mobile phone in the modern world. It has become an indispensable assistant for communication with loved ones and for work, entertainment, paying for purchases, and managing smart gadgets.
Stored sensitive information on mobile phones often exposes its owners to surveillance risks. After all, our smartphones know more about us than relatives and friends. Today we will talk about knowing if your phone is being monitored.
How Are Mobile Phones Monitored?
There are many methods; here are just a few of them:
- Connection to SS 7: This method is most often used by attackers and hacker organizations. Wiretapping is carried out through the subscriber number, to which a special SRI4SM request is sent. In response to such a message, the international identifier of the subscriber comes, and the address of the switch of the mobile operator. The attackers enter the received data into the billing system, thereby gaining full access to the person’s conversations.
- Use of the SORM line: As mentioned earlier, many telecom operators use such a system at the request of law enforcement agencies. It is not difficult to guess that the special services can get access to listening to almost any phone without the appropriate permission. The same can say about mobile operators, who will easily access calls and conversations.
- Application of special programs: On the hacker software market, you can purchase a particular application that will listen to the phone of the selected victim. It is easy to fall into this trap. To do this, it is enough to install a Trojan program that silently collects all the information. That is why it is better not to download anything from unknown sites.
Types of Wiretapping
- Call forwarding, SMS messages, etc., to another phone without the owner’s knowledge is the simplest and most common method of listening. Besides you, the conversation or messages are also transmitted to other devices unknown to you.
- Malicious software installed on a smartphone and stealing or destroying personal data also makes it possible to listen to conversations by turning on the microphone and obtaining information within a radius of up to hundreds of meters. Getting such programs on a smartphone is possible through the mobile Internet or Wi-Fi connection, MMS messages, via Bluetooth, or from a PC.
- Not everyone can afford such a method as special listening technology and is considered “professional.” For wiretapping, expensive special complexes and phones with special modifications are used, which are sold semi-legally. This technique makes it possible to listen to other people’s conversations.
Signs That The Phone Is Being Monitored
It is not so easy to reliably find out if the phone is being monitored. Often, here you cannot do without special equipment and police intervention. Although some signs of this can be found even at home:
The Battery Drains Suspiciously Quickly:
To listen to someone else’s phone, you need to install spyware (software). And it must be active, that is, consume battery resources.
Hot Battery:
Mainly when the smartphone lies idle and is not connecting to the Internet in high-quality video viewing mode. As mentioned in the paragraph above, malware needs a lot of resources. Which “warm-up” the battery. Although the mobile network in this particular location may contain “holes.” And the device sends signals more often and switches between base stations. Which also drains the battery faster. Another correction must be made for the gadget’s age – the older it is, the faster the charge is consumed.
Strange Smartphone Activity:
If the phone is lying on the table and the backlight suddenly turns on or reboots by itself, it is advisable to check for third-party programs. These signs may mean that someone remotely controls your phone without your knowledge.
Turning Off the Phone for Too Long:
If, when you press the power button, the smartphone either does not turn off or it takes too long, someone may be listening to you. However, the device may be infected with viruses or other malware.
Interference:
When the phone is near the audio speakers, many have noticed that you can hear characteristic sounds during an incoming call. But if no calls and interference are heard, this may indicate that the phone is “under the hood.” You can put your gadget near the TV or speakers and listen to how it behaves.
Background Noise:
Perhaps, various clicks and echoes “on the line” only indicate poor communication quality. But if this happens regularly, then you need to consider this carefully. And check your phone for wiretapping.
Too much internet traffic. In modern phones, you can track the amount of data consumed when connected to the World Wide Web. If the values go off-scale – especially when the user is not very active online – you can start to suspect. And check for each application where gigabytes are leaking.
Effective Protection Methods
It is almost impossible to protect yourself from official wiretapping, as law enforcement agencies use special technology. But the following recommendations will help prevent confidential data from being made publicly available:
- Do not give your phone to strangers or unfamiliar people for a long time.
- Avoid installing programs downloaded from unknown sources on your device. It is better to use the official app store services on Google Play.
- Make calls through messengers. They are more protected from wiretapping. For example, you can use the same.
- Do not connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Check your smartphone for viruses regularly. Special antivirus applications will help with this.
By following these simple recommendations, you can protect your data and maintain confidentiality.
How to Check and Get Rid of Wiretapping
Checking the phone for wiretapping using a code or a combination of numbers
With the help of general signs, it is not always possible to understand that some person or organization controls your conversations. It is better to use special codes and combinations for verification. And to turn off listening, turn to narrowly focused applications.
Special USSD commands allow you to check your Android phone for wiretapping. They need to enter the dialing field and click on the handset icon. Here are the main combinations:
- Code – *#43# . Open the phone and dial this combination in the dialing field. Click on the call button and wait for the information window to appear. Pay attention to the line ” The service is connecting for. ” Under it, nothing should display now, except for the ” Voice ” option. If there is a “ Call on hold ” item, your smartphone will monitor.
- Code – *#21# . Great command to check call forwarding. Dial it in the dialing field and click on the handset icon. In the window, information should appear indicating that forwarding is disabled. If calls are transferring to someone, most likely, your phone is monitored.
- The code is *#62#. You can find the specific phone number for call forwarding through this combination. Open the dialing field and enter this USSD request. Click on the button to make a call and wait for the special window to appear. In the ” Voice Communication ” item, a specific number will be indicated to which calls are being forwarded. If there is no number, this is a good signal – the mobile phone is not monitoring.
Disabling Wiretapping Through Programs
How to disable wiretapping on an Android phone? Every person who has discovered signs of unauthorized transmission of information is asked this question. Special programs will help you cope with this task and protect your confidential data—about everything in order.
EAGLE Security FREE
The EAGLE Security FREE application allows you to protect your phone from listening in one of the known ways. The program perfectly detects Trojans that can transfer your data to third parties. Also, the service is struggling with a common method of wiretapping – the substitution of the base station.
You do not need to use any secret sites to install the application. Everything is done through the usual Play Market. Enter the program’s name and go to the corresponding page in the search bar. Click ” Install ” and wait for the installation to complete.
When the application is successfully installed, open it. We provide the requested permissions by clicking on the appropriate button in the window. There are several useful blocks on the main screen. First, pay attention to the item ” Probability of wiretapping. ” Here, in percentage terms, the risk of listening to your phone indicates. Below is information about active systems. The number of visible cells, network type, base station, and other parameters are among them.
Let’s go to the side menu by clicking on the icon in the form of three stripes. First, let’s open the ” Spyware ” section. Here are the applications that EAGLE Security considers to be a threat. Carefully read the list and, if desired, remove the software found.
But special attention should be paid to the ” Block ” section. It is through this tab that you can remove wiretapping from your phone. Try to activate the modes: ” Block camera ” and ” Block microphone. ” In this case, the microphone will block during phone calls; however, this does not work on all devices. The same applies to the camera. The use of the camera will prohibit by the security policies built into the Android operating system.
Incognito
A universal program that allows you to understand if your phone or SIM card is being monitored. You can easily download it from Google Play (you can find out how to install it on a Chinese android here ) by entering the appropriate query in the search. As for the requirements for the smartphone, the application does not require root access or any other features. So, after the installation is completed, open the utility. An informative video immediately greets us with an overview of the software’s capabilities. Next, we get to the main screen, where we click on the ” Start Scan ” button.
A special procedure for checking the functions of the smartphone will start. As practice shows, it usually does not take much time, but it is better not to minimize the application throughout the entire process. As a result, information will display on the screen, indicating the presence or absence of remote wiretapping of the phone. A message with the text “Your device is clean” is considered positive.
In the PRO version of the program, you can configure automatic scanning by time. For example, once a day, week, or month. If you are an active messenger user, try enabling the ” Messenger Monitoring ” option. It is designed to control the transmission of messages. The App Audit mode, as its name implies, identifies suspicious applications. But unfortunately, the presented features are available only in the paid version of the software.
Anti Spy
Anti Spy is perhaps one of the most exciting programs in anti-spyware software. It uses a special engine based on artificial intelligence, which carefully scans the system and detects any suspicious activity. This applies not only to Trojan applications but also to SMS trackers. This program will help detect wiretapping and the leakage of personal information into the hands of intruders.
Where can you download this app, you ask? The answer is from the same Play Store. After the installation is completed, open the program and perform the initial setup. We can view a short presentation by clicking on the ” Next ” button. We agree to the terms of use by ticking two boxes and selecting ” Accept. “
To start the Scan, click “Scan. ” During analysis, the current status of the device may change. The corresponding icon will be highlighted if potential threats appear in suspicious applications. In the end, you can correct the situation by removing potentially harmful software or disabling these options.
As for the settings, there are no interesting items in them. But it’s still a good idea to go there. We strongly recommend checking the box next to the line “ScanScan for unknown sources, “which automatically activates the option to check for programs installed not from the Play Store. Optionally, you can add trusted sources or whitelist specific applications.
Android IMSI-Catcher Detector
The Android IMSI-Catcher Detector (abbreviated AIMSICD) is designed to directly monitor the making of calls. You can install the application only from third-party sources; it is not available on Google Play. It is best to use the w3bsit3-dns.com portal, where only proven utilities are loaded.
After installation, open the application and go to the side menu by clicking on the icon in the form of three stripes. Here we can go to the ” Current Threat Level ” section and check the likelihood of wiretapping. The View Database menu provides detailed information about each base station. But these values explain something to too few people, so we recommend activating automatic monitoring. This is done as follows:
- Go to any section and click on the icon in the form of three dots.
- We put a checkmark next to the items: “ Enable attack detection ” and ” Enable cell tracking. “
- Open the ” Settings ” section. Everything is set up correctly by default, but activating the “ GPS settings ” option is better. It allows you to enable geolocation for detailed cell tracking.
To save the changes, exit the last section.
Summing up
If you notice illegal tapping of your device by unscrupulous persons, the main thing is not to panic. First of all, analyze your surroundings. Pay special attention to the people close to you. But if you have evidence of espionage activities of unknown persons, be sure to contact the police.