Phone got hacked and worried about it

[julia241977]

I'm pretty sure my phone got hacked, since I kept seeing these weird popup ads whenever I used the internet on it. Yesterday I did a total reset of my phone, which all the tech websites said is a good last resort for dealing with that sort of thing. Everything seems okay now, but this whole ordeal has been really bad for my anxiety (a few months ago I made the mistake of watching Black Mirror, not realizing how anxious it would make me feel about technology). Even though I did everything to secure my phone and personal information, my worries keep spinning out of control. I keep thinking up these scenarios where some stranger hacks into my phone, steals my personal information, and somehow ruins my life.

I've just been feeling so on edge about this. Like I can't use my phone and feel safe. Has anyone felt this way after getting hacked or experiencing something similar? How did you deal?

[WiredIncorrectly]

I can bet my life on it you wasn't hacked. Instead, you likely installed an application that you gave permissions to. Most people don't check app permissions when installing and don't realize most of the time they pretty much give apps full access to their phone. The reason why app developers do this is because the more times they can show an advert to somebody, the more money they get. They will get $1 for every 1000 people that see the ad. So if they ensure the app you installed displays 10 ads a day for you, and 100,000 have installed the app, the income is crazy.

It's just ad spam basically. Nothing malicious per say.

In terms of Black Mirror ... erm, I don't want to scare you but I do want to make people aware that Google, Apple and Facebook record from your microphone without you knowing. They've been caught for it recently. They also employ people to transcribe the messages from audio into text. Google, Facebook and Apple want to know everything about you. Maybe not for malicious reasons - but I'm pretty sure they share data with the NSA. They want your data so they can sell it to advertisers.

Like, open your browser and search for a "silver audi s3". Now go on Facebook and you'll see targeted adverts. Google and Facebook are not the same company, but data is shared between them via their advertising networks.

The more data they collect about you, the more they can laser target products to you that you might buy. They acquire this data from EVERYTHING. Social media, email, sms, phone contacts, apps installed etc. They combine that with data from Experian and other sources to build complete profiles about you. It all happens automatically with AI software. Nobody is sitting there doing this.

They probably know more about you than you know yourself :roflmao:

But to reiterate nobody is spying on you, or targeting you. At least not from what you've said above. That's not how phone hacks work.

If you're going to use a smartphone use an Apple because they audit every application in their store and are more strict about what companies can do in terms of advertising, spam etc. Here's my phone. I never have privacy concerns LOL ...

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1ldKdX0knBKNjSZKPq6x6OFXaX/Original-Nokia-8310-Mobile-Cell-Phone-2G-GSM-900-1800-Unlocked-Arabic-Keyboard-8310-Red-Refurbished.jpg_640x640.jpg

[julia241977]

haha thanks, I'm not super knowledgeable in terms of tech stuff so I think it's easy to imagine outrageous scenarios bc I just didn't really know what was going on with my phone. Thanks for the reassurance :)