It is estimated that cell phones are the target of 44 cyberattacks every second.
Many of these attacks go unidentified. Some are carried out through illegal (and dangerous) cell phone mirroring - which many people don't even know about.
Cell phone mirroring is often done by the user of the device: to view images or videos on a television, for example.
But mirroring is also widely used by cybercriminals, warns NordVPN in a statement sent to ZAP.
Criminals get your photos, passwords, private conversations or know your location in real time.
“Hackers use illegal mirroring to access personal information, obtain financial gain, detect your location, steal your identity or even blackmail you. They can break into your device without your consent, through malware or spyware installed from malicious connections, Man-in-the-Middle attacks or physical access,” warns Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN.
And how do we know?
How do you know that your phone might be being mirrored by a criminal?
There are a few “symptoms”: strange noises during calls, rapid battery drain, random activity on the screen or a sudden big spike in data consumption.
Other warning signs: unusual logins to your Google, Facebook or iCloud accounts, fake virus alerts or unexpected restarts.
Hackers often manage to convince users to install what looks like legitimate software - but isn't. It's spyware or malware, which records your activities. It's spyware or malware, which records your activities on the screen.
Cybercriminals use phishing tactics, sending misleading emails with malicious links that, once clicked, install malware on the victim's device so they can monitor it. Or they use unsecured public Wi-Fi networks.
To reduce the likelihood of these attacks, it is essential to strengthen your layers of defence, keep up to date, use a virtual private network (VPN) and learn to recognize phishing emails.
