Spying: is your smartphone cloned?
While they have become our daily companions, smartphones contain more and more personal (and private!) information. But, if it has become essential to keep your device safe, the risks increase, like cloning. Overview of this practice and how to spot it.
What is “cloning a phone”?
Cloning your phone is not a practice reserved for spy movies! Indeed, this method used by hackers is more widespread than one might think. Two main methods are used:
- Copying data from the SIM card and IMEI information (International Mobile Equipment Identity). This mirrors your phone to a third-party device, giving it full access to your system and its data.
- Another cloning method is through spy apps, used in particular by parents to monitor the activity of their children. This method is frequently abused by hackers.
Once the phone is cloned, the hacker therefore has full access to your data., credentials, keyloggers as well as the whole system. It is up to him to make life difficult for this data.
READ ► Video Tutorial: Monitor Smartphone with mSpy
How to know if your phone is cloned?
Several clues can help you identify a potential cloning of your phone. As with any malware, there is of course the loss of battery performance, overheating or any abnormal behavior of the components.. However, other clues may exist for the case of cloning:
- Unsolicited calls from the device
- Spontaneous notifications asking to restart the device
- Certain messages or calls are not received by the correspondent
- Inaccurate device location
🚨When you download apps on your phone:
Make sure they are not clone apps that might install spyware without your knowledge ✅
Always verify the identity of the developer ✅ pic.twitter.com/wDRuoyIGzw
— CyberGend (@CyberGEND) February 26, 2022
What to do if your phone is cloned?
With these items, do you think your device has been cloned? So there is still time to act! First, contact your operator; he can offer you solutions for your SIM card, or even suggest a new one.
Then change your passwords from an uninfected device. Finally, if you want to have peace of mind, launch a Return to factory settings of the device. Radical, but very often it remains the most effective.
