The Pegasus snoopgate has shook the tech world and mobile device makers and tech giants like Apple and Google have vowed to amend strong protections against such software. Though Pegasus is used only to hack very influential people in the society, there are still various other alternatives that are used to hack or spy even the common folks. The amount of information compromised from the mobile and the reason for spying or hacking can vary based on the tool or method used for hacking. Similarly, there are various impacts and symptoms to know if your mobile phone is hacked. Here, in this article, we list down the most common signs to know if your mobile is hacked.

Mobile Data usage Spike

This is one of the most common symptoms to know if you’re phone is hacked. If your phone is hacked, it only means that your mobile device hardware is actually hacked and the information in it is actually being transmitted to malicious party via internet. So, if your mobile’s data usage is unusually high, then you have every reason to have a closer look at it. It is always a good practice to have a mobile data limit configured on your devices to prevent such unauthorized transmissions.

Strange Pop-Ups and Permission Requests

Another common sign is that you see irrelevant pop-ups showing you warning and threats about the content in your mobile phone. Such pop-ups are nothing but ads from sites you visit to breach your phone security. Unless there is a suggestion or warning from the actual mobile maker about the storage on your device, do not respond to such pop-ups. Do not even click “No” or “Cancel”. Just exit the application or site and restart the application.

Also, some of the spyware which are already installed on your device may spoof you by requesting permissions which are irrelevant to the app’s usage. Deny the permissions and if possible, ensure only the adequate permissions are provided for the apps installed on your mobile.

Irrelevant Call Logs and Message Logs

One of the primary methods of hacking is sending malicious links to the target’s device. Once you click on the link, your security protocols are overridden and the gates are opened for foreign parties to access your information. So, it is very imperative that you verify if there are any irrelevant calls or messages being made from your device. If you see any such calls or messages, consider resetting or booting your phone.

Photos/Screenshots you never took

Some advanced hacks allow hackers to control your device’s camera, GPS, microphone. If one such hack is being employed on your device, you may often see some photos, pictures, screenshots being saved in your gallery which you took it. Also, there are possibilities that some images are being randomly downloaded (which often have cryptographic information). Such things are a bigger threat than any other symptoms and it is be immediately resolved.

Apart from the above listed symptoms there are other minor symptoms like your phone getting a bit too slow to respond to your taps, phone getting over heated for normal usage, mobile’s flashlight automatically turning on at random times, battery drains too fast, etc.