Phones that are unusually hot, draining battery quickly, or displaying strange software are signs that the user's location may be being tracked.
In a survey conducted on March 8 by VnExpress, 41% of 2,000 participants said they suspected they were being tracked but could not verify it, and 33% said they had had their location tracked. Mr. Vu Ngoc Son, Technical Director of NCS Cyber Security Technology Company, said one of the most common forms of location tracking is silently installing malware on smartphones.
According to experts from security firm Kaspersky, users can proactively determine whether their phone is being tracked or not if they see some signs such as: the phone running unusually slow, the battery draining faster, the device getting hotter, and mobile data running out faster.
Battery drains fast
The first sign users may notice is that the battery drains faster than usual. Spyware often works continuously to scan data, take screenshots, and send notifications to the server, which consumes battery.
However, in some cases, such as when the battery is worn out, the smartphone's usage time is also significantly reduced. To check the battery's wear level, iPhone users can go to Settings -> Battery -> Battery and charging status. If the device reports a 95-100% battery but can only be used for a few hours, it is likely that the phone has applications running in the background, including spyware. But if the battery's "health" is below 80%, it is normal for the device to quickly drain the battery.
On Android smartphones, users can check the battery by going to settings, selecting battery data. Depending on the manufacturer, the data is built into the device or not. If it is not in the default settings, users can download a third-party application on CH Play, but note to choose an app with a large number of downloads and high ratings.
Mobile data consumption
The second sign that your phone is being tracked is that your mobile data usage is unusually high. Spyware apps need a constant network connection to send data to their servers. A simple way to check is to turn off Wi-Fi and switch to mobile data. If your mobile data usage is unusually high even when you only use normal services, your phone may be infected with spyware. However, users should also check apps that consume a lot of mobile data, such as games, photo and video recording software, to see if they notice anything unusual.
On Android phones, you can go to Settings -> SIM and mobile networks -> Mobile data usage. Here, the device will list which software consumes data by week and month. This setting depends on the manufacturer.
For iPhone, you can go to Settings -> Cellular -> Cellular Data. In addition to the data consumption level and comparing it with other applications, users can turn off apps that are consuming data on the iPhone.
Phone is unusually hot
Some people who have been tracked said that their phones suddenly heat up even when they are not playing games or watching videos. According to experts, the two reasons mentioned above (consuming data, fast battery drain) are the reasons why spyware causes overheating. Some phones with tracking software installed also often turn on by themselves, light up the screen when not in use, without notifications, and even turn on the microphone and location.
Users should also check for strange sounds in calls, extra characters in text messages, and suspicious contacts in their contacts. Some have reported finding strange searches in their browsers that they had not performed.
Phone is running slow
There are many reasons why the device runs slowly, such as long usage time, infrequent cache cleaning, and installation of unnecessary software. However, users should not rule out the possibility that the phone has malware installed if the device shows signs such as frequent lag, slow touch screen, and longer startup and shutdown times than usual.
How to avoid location tracking
Mr. Vu Ngoc Son noted that tracking software is becoming more and more sophisticated and that there are malwares that can be installed on smartphones without revealing any abnormalities, without heating up the device or consuming battery. Therefore, users need to regularly check the applications installed on their phones and be vigilant if they see them requesting many permissions to access location, messages, calls, contacts, memory cards, etc.
To ensure safety when using the device, you should not install strange software of unknown origin or applications that require too many permissions. In addition, when accessing the Internet, you should not click on strange links. Using electronic devices of unknown origin also increases the risk of location tracking.
For Android phones, users should turn off the option to download and install applications that are not available in CH Play. On iPhones, there is an application called Cydia that allows the installation of jailbroken software. If this application suddenly appears on the phone, it should be removed immediately.
In addition to deleting suspicious software and applications, you should also change the passwords of the applications on your phone. Do not use weak or default passwords from the manufacturer. After deleting the app, you need to clear the cache to remove any traces of spyware.
However, Kaspersky experts warn that some malware cannot be easily removed by uninstalling, and may even reinstall itself after uninstalling. Therefore, if you are suspicious, you should restore the phone's factory settings and update the latest operating system. Before doing so, you should back up your data via Google Cloud or iCloud.
According to Vnexpress.net
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