How to prevent fraudsters hacking into your mobile phone

“Mobile phone hacking” is a disturbing phrase that’s made many newspaper headlines lately.

But mobile phone hacking doesn’t only happen to celebrities in the public eye, it can happen to anyone.

So we’re going to explain some of the simple steps you should take to tighten up your phone’s security in order to minimise the danger of you becoming the next victim.

What is phone hacking?

Ask 10 people what phone hacking is and you’ll probably get 10 very different answers, because the phrase – disconcerting as it is – means different things to different people.

Phone hacking simply means someone gaining unauthorised access to your mobile phone or smartphone, but it comes in several different forms.

The two most common types of phone hacking are:

• Voicemail hacking – somebody remotely listening to your phone’s voicemail messages
• Data hacking – somebody viewing or stealing information stored on your phone, such as phone numbers, bank account details and emails.

Thankfully both types of phone hacking are easily preventable.

The best ways of evading voicemail hacking

Sometimes you’ll need to listen to voicemail messages when your phone isn’t with you, so most mobile phone networks offer a generic remote access telephone number that you can call from a landline telephone to hear your own mobile’s voicemails.

For security you need to enter a pin code before being able to listen to your voicemails, but the default code is often the same across all phones – often 1234 or 0000.

If you don’t change this pin code then a phone hacker could potentially listen to your voicemails by entering one of the default pin codes.

It’s quick and easy to change your voicemail pin code and, although the process varies between mobile phone providers, most let you do so simply by calling voicemail from your phone and selecting the “voicemail security” setting.

You could also speak to your mobile phone network, as they will be able to give you network- and phone-specific instructions for changing your voicemail security password.

Staying safe from mobile phone data hackers

Data hacking is an increasingly common form of phone hacking, particularly on smartphones able to access and store a wide variety of sensitive information, such as bank details and emails.

To minimise the chances of suffering from a mobile phone data hack attack you should:

1. Avoid public wi-fi – Avoid checking emails, logging into mobile banking sites and accessing private information when your phone is connected to public wi-fi such as those in coffee shops – as these are often unsecure.
2. Turn off auto-complete – Some phones save usernames and passwords automatically to help you log-in faster next time, but this could also help a hacker access your personal data. Check your phone’s “Settings” menu to see if it is automatically storing information.
3. Set a phone password – If your phone’s lost or stolen then a password could stop a data hacker in their tracks.
4. Turn off Bluetooth – When you’re not using Bluetooth always turn it off as hackers could use the wireless connection to gain remote access to your phone.
5. Delete your browsing history – Not seeing a list of which websites you’ve recently visited and the information you’ve accessed might be a little inconvenient, but clearing your mobile phone’s internet browser history, cookies and cache will make it harder for a hacker to get your data.

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