Hacking a cell phone is a big deal. The latest smartphone technology is powerful and secure, but so are the hackers who always come up with a backdoor to get into other people’s phones. Teens are harassed and bullied online every other day. Due to the busy work routine, the parents fail to enforce the necessary security and control measures. The internet is full of threats of all kinds, and there are a variety of social issues to contend with all the time.
People use the Internet to scam others out of their money, and unfaithful employees leak valuable information to competitors, which can have devastating consequences for a company. Ethical hacking has proven to be an effective means of addressing these issues to some extent. There aren’t many ethical hackers out there, so I guess there’s no choice but to educate yourself about hacking tools.
These tools are mainly designed to secretly hack mobile phones. Technology is so advanced that you can hack into a device using the network connection and you don’t even have to install any software on the phone.
So here are some ways you can hack into someone’s cell phone:
Midnight Raid:
Midnight Raids are a popular and easy way to hack a phone. You can do this without installing spyware. A regular hacker’s toolkit for using this method includes a laptop with a WiFi connection and two phones. One phone serves as a GSM modem for the laptop and the other to receive information.
The reason for the name Midnight Raid is that this attack is typically carried out at night when the user is asleep and the cellphone is left unattended on the side table or plugged in to charge. It all starts with a text message that clearly shows how easy it is to get access to someone. You need to send a text message saying “You are being hacked” on the target phone at midnight. This simple message invokes Internet Explorer on the target device when the text message is received.
Then an application runs on the phone to retrieve data. This SMS returns to the phone you sent the text from and conveys the phone’s unique ID, its IMSI number. The app can easily steal all information from the device. One can even send viruses to the hacked device or launch a Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
Control message attacks
Control message attacks involve sending a control message to the device that you want to hack. Sending the control message to the phone will give you access to the target phone’s settings menu. This type of hack allows you to control the device’s settings without the user’s knowledge. You can easily disable SSL and leave the device vulnerable. There is no encryption. After that, you can press a delete command, which will erase all data stored on the device. Since PCs don’t have SMS capabilities, these hacks are limited to smartphones. A text message attack is the easiest way to hack a cell phone.
When trying to hack a cell phone, it’s important to consider the type of smartphones that are vulnerable to these attacks. This depends heavily on the security settings of the device. According to a report by Gartner analyst John Girard, security issues are emerging as wireless devices are becoming more widespread.
Hacking by IMSI catcher or Stingray
Most of the protocols that cellphones use are not completely secure – especially the old ones! A device always identifies a cell tower by its IMSI number, but the cell tower doesn’t have to. Because cell phones connect to the nearest cell tower that broadcasts the strongest signal from itself, it’s pretty easy to trick a device into connecting to a fake cell tower. This is exactly what an IMSI catcher/Stingray does.
This method is known by several names. IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier) catchers are also called Stingray (a brand name that makes hacking equipment), Cell Site Simulator, and False Towers.
Stingray happens to be a mobile surveillance device that presents itself as a cell tower and shows itself to be a reliable infrastructure. This way, the smartphones you want to hack into can easily connect to those cell towers. One can place these Stingrays in fixed locations or in a drone or vehicle. These devices not only detect the location of the target device users but also help in intercepting text messages and calls from the target devices as well as the devices surrounding the target device.
They basically work like a real cell phone tower by spoofing it and then intercepting the signals in the area. Stingrays can identify individual phones and then hack their data. Sometimes they can even listen to calls, record and track the movements of the monitored phone user.
Once you trick your device into connecting to the wrong masts, you can easily read the unencrypted content and other communications that the mast transmits to you. IMSI catchers are quite commonly used in law enforcement, but in recent years they have been widely used by hackers and private investigators.
Interception and tracking by SS7
Although the protocol is around 50 years old, Signaling System 7 (SS7) connects the majority of cellular networks worldwide. It allows you to benefit from services such as roaming and call forwarding. As such, this protocol is a little rusty, as is its security. By hacking into this log, you can track the location of your target cell phone around the globe and even monitor the incoming and outgoing text messages and calls. All you need is the associated number.
Install a keylogger app
The apps on our smartphones have access to all the data on our phones. You can easily access our contacts, pictures, browsing history, login details and even our account details and locations. Even though some of the information is in encrypted form, all you need is a keylogger spyware app to record all phone activities. A keylogger app records keystrokes before they are encrypted. You need physical access to the phone to install the keylogger app.
Get access data with phishing
Nobody installs malicious application on their phone knowingly. If you want to hack someone’s cell phone, there is another way to do it through phishing. Phishing schemes allow you to lure your target with fake versions of legitimate websites to get login credentials. These websites are becoming more sophisticated and pretend to be like the original websites.
If you somehow get your target person to access these websites and enter their details, you can easily hack into their phones. If the target phone does not have antivirus or other virus detection software installed, the person will not even know that they have fallen for a scam and shared data to a fake website.
Hacking a phone by sending spam messages
If you choose this method, you can fool the phone user whose phone you want to hack. Hacking through spam messages is one of the black hat techniques and you can get access to victim’s Google account. Typically, people use their Google account for everything they do online. Their Google account is connected to their social media accounts, online shopping accounts, schools, colleges as well as their bank accounts.
The Google account is actually the key to tracking anyone’s activities. If you get access to someone’s Google account, you can easily hack into anything. If you do not have a Google account password, you will need a security code. Google sends this code to the target phone, and that is why you send spam message to get access to this code.
And this is what you need to do:
- The first thing you need to do is go to the Google login page. Enter the phone number of the phone you want to hack and then click Forgot Password.
- Google then sends the verification code to the phone.
- Now comes the tricky part. How do you get the verification code? If you can’t get physical access to the target’s phone, you need to trick them into sending it to you. To do this, you need to send a spam message to the person’s number.
- Here’s what your spam message would look like: “This is Google. There has been unauthorized activity on your Google Account. Please reply with the verification code we sent to your number.”
- After sending the spam message to the target phone, wait and see if you have successfully scammed the target person. If yes, then she will reply to your spam message.
- After receiving the code, you need to create a new password for the account. Just set a new password.
- Now you can log into the Google account and see everything that is happening and track every single piece of information.
Using only their number, you can fool a person to gain access to their Google account. You have access to all emails, social media accounts, map locations, and even where the person shopped.
Using free WiFi to intercept communications
Anyone can set up a WiFi hotspot. And whoever runs the network can easily see the unencrypted traffic passing through the network. This applies to both cellular and WiFi operators. Even though an ISP is a legitimate company that operates networks and abides by a variety of regulations, an ordinary person can easily set up a WiFi hotspot.
There is another way to hack into someone’s cellphone. If there is a specific person whose phone you want to hack but have no way to access, here’s what you can do:
Set up a free WiFi network near a hotel or coffee shop that the person frequents. It’s also a way to lure in unsuspecting customers. After the person connects to it, you can easily access all their unencrypted messages and emails.
Data extraction via a USB charger
USB chargers are not only used to charge the battery of phones. They can also help transfer data when connected to a computer. While this is convenient, USB chargers also happen to be a factor in attacks.
In most versions of Android, the hard drive is connected to the mobile phone at the same time as the cable is connected to the computer. You can easily do the rest and upload spyware or malware to the device, which gives you access to the data stored on the device.
Using a spy app
This is one of the easiest ways for you to hack someone’s phone. If you find the above methods difficult, you can save yourself the hassle and get yourself a spyware. There are tons of such apps out there, but it’s better if you only use the best hacking app.