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Is it a false alarm or is the real deal this time? When it comes to figuring out whether your phone has been hacked, it’s important to be aware of the signs and to take action as soon as you discover you are a victim of hacking. But what should you be looking out for in terms of hacking signs? Tech experts say there are at least three ways you can easily tell if your iCloud has been hacked — and then a few clear-cut steps on how to proceed after you know. Here are three scary signs your iCloud has been hacked, according to Tech Expert Georgi Todorov from ThriveMyWay.
Unusual Activity
If your iPhone is acting weird — you’re receiving strange messages and other unusual activities on the phone — this is usually your first sign that something is amiss and you could be hacked, Todorov says.
You Have A Jailbroken Phone
While owning a jailbroken phone certainly gives you more freedom, it also comes with risk. “A jailbroken iPhone can open up a lot of risks towards hacking and therefore should be checked from time to time,” Todorov says.
Interferences In Background Noises
Any kind of unusual electronic interference could be a clue that someone has tapped on your line and is listening, according to Todorov.
Your Battery Dies — Fast
If your phone is unable to hold a charge for longer than a few hours, this could be a sign of malicious activity.
“Yes, this can be pretty common after a long time, but unusual times where battery quickly drains may mean that something fishy is happening in the background,” Todorov says.
So, what should you do if you think your phone has been hacked? Craig Lurey, CTO and Co-Founder of Keeper Security, provides a few critical steps to take right away.
“The first step that one should take if they feel that their iCloud account was hacked is that they should enable multi-factor authentication (2FA) on their account, and any additional accounts that support the feature,” Lurey says. “This way, even if a cybercriminal gets hold of a working password, they’ll be unable to use it without the second authentication factor. Next, start using a password manager such as Keeper. In addition to helping you change your account passwords, password managers will automatically generate strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts, store them in a secure digital vault that you can access from any device, running any operating system, and automatically fill them across all of your sites and apps.”
And, finally, Lurey recommends subscribing to a Dark Web monitoring service such as Keeper’s BreachWatch, which scans Dark Web forums and notifies you in real-time if any of your passwords have been compromised. “This enables you to reset at risk passwords right away, before cybercriminals have a chance to use them,” Lurey says.
