Your Phones Have Just Been Owned - What would you do?

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So you wake up early in the morning, pick up your android cell phone and starring you in the face is a flash message about the cost of your last SMS sent.
But you’ve been asleep all the while, and you never sent any SMS.
Tapping more into your new found entranced and creepy experience, you look at your other phone and see a SIM change notification alert for the phone that’s right next to you. And to scare you more, the IMEI number is included and you know it’s the IMEI number for your phone that’s right next to you.

You never changed your SIM, at least physically. So what could have happened?

For the casual mobile phone owner, this event might go unnoticed and probably would be waved off as just a glitch in the device.

But to the technically savvy here’s what might be running through your mind.

  1. Has someone installed a phone monitoring app (spy software) on your phone.
  2. Could some app on your phone have the ability to clone your SIM remotely?
  3. Was there a breach in your Google cloud account?
  4. Could it be Big Brother is now watching you?

But wait, it could just be a device glitch and there’s no need troubling your busy and active mind on such a distant possibility.

In spite of all these you know you have to use your phone for the things that have become a part of your daily life. You need to make and receive calls, look up the internet quickly, read articles, receive and respond to messages, check your email,… you get the picture already.
You cannot be bothered by this one-off event that’s almost impossible to fathom, so you continue to live your simple life and let none of this bother you.

But alas, it gets you. That cold chill you feel running down your spine when something you don’t want to believe is happening right in front of you - you’ve been locked out of your phone and all the accounts that encompass your entire online presence.

All of this is real but for the previous paragraph which is probably the worst of several likely conclusions to this.
But why am I bringing this up right now? Our lives are now almost fully replicated on our mobile devices. It only makes sense that you know as much about this device yourself or get a highly trusted entity to manage it’s security.

I know a few things we all can easily do to stay secure, like using difficult passwords, and changing passwords often.
But I would like to know what someone here would do if you were caught in the events above well before a lock-out even happens.

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Only Doctor Fox would think to write up something like this. :smile:

I am not sure what I would do in a situation such as this, besides doing a straight up factory reset. I already do the whole 2-factor thing on most of my accounts, and barely keep non-essential apps (like those I install to review) hanging around.

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I just bet my life on Google. And if they are the Antichrist, I can’t be saved. In an instance like this, I’ll just continue living my baby boy life. You want to take over my device, go ahead and have fun.

More seriously though, one thing I tell people is to be very aware of the kind of transaction and messages they have on the internet or on these devices. Have email accounts that are untraceable to you for services you don’t trust or proud to be associated with. Delete your history frequently if you are into that sorta thing.

Another thing is, if you can’t say and do it in the real world, don’t commit or transact it online. You know if heaven falls, you have nothing to fear.


I bet my life, Imagine Dragons.

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If you use a Samsung Android phone there’s this Samsung account you create when you first use the phone.
If anyone gains control of that account your phone will be owned.
It’s like changing your email account password when someone has setup forwarding on it already without your knowledge.

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I think the most sensible thing to do would be to wipe the phone as @xolubi mentioned.
But most people are too scared to even think of that.

  1. Backup contacts (automatic if you’re using a google account)
  2. Backup media (some you like some you don’t; doesn’t matter much)
  3. Backup installed apps (they are already in your play store profile - All apps)
  4. Ring tones and personal settings (not doing this one)

Now you can do your factory reset / wipe.

And after that you restore the items from above one after the other.
But, the dreadful part for most folks is remembering their login details for all the apps they use.
Password vault app somebody?