Smartphones have come to stay. In this digital age where almost all activities are carried out online, everyone owns a smartphone. As great a development the smartphone is to us and as much relief, they provide us with the ease of communication, work or even play, there has been a consistent rise in the malicious attacks on our smartphones through malware.
Malware attacks would lead to a series of problems which could be loss of personal data through theft, inflated phone bills like Wi-Fi or even worse. Most people are not even aware that they have these viruses in their phones but from certain symptoms that you can watch out for, you can then detect these viruses.
Malware is software that is written to target and specifically attack a host system to cause harm. They are designed to go after computer systems, smartphones or electronic devices. So, if your Android starts behaving strangely and you can’t seem to figure out what the problem might be, it might just be infected with malware.
Malware is just a broad name given to the various forms which are can come. It could be viruses, trojans, spyware, ransomware or worms. This various malware can cause serious harm and irreparable damage to your computer system, smartphone or electronic devices. This damage could be in the form or loss of personal data or even loss of funds.
Malware can be introduced into your smartphone when you download an unsecured or unverified app through your emails, text messages or even through a Bluetooth connection with another smartphone. Also, malware infections can be introduced if you click on a dodgy link. These worms and viruses spread like wildfire as they are designed to move from one device to another. Spyware, on the other hand, would track your online and offline activity, gather as much sensitive data as possible from your smartphone without your authorization and knowledge.
There are a few symptoms that are a sure bet your Android is infected with some sort of malware or virus. If your smartphone shows any of these signs, then it is time to trace the cause of this so as to find a solution.
Your internet connects on its own
If you find out that your smartphone connects to Wi-Fi or data connections without you switching it on, it might be due to malware. These programs are designed to override your preferences and make these connections on their own. Malware and viruses do this so as to spread their web of destruction to other phones and applications. Once you notice this unusual activity scan your phone for viruses and clean your Android with an anti-virus. See some great anti-virus software reviews here.
Messages and Phone calls you can’t explain
This is another symptom of a malware infection on your Android phone. If your phone is infected, there may be a series of sent text messages to all your contacts, most likely with a link for them to click on. This is so because viruses spread from one device to another via text messages, emails, etc. It would be helpful to notify your contacts not to open any spam messages they receive from you or click any links. Another way to deal with this is to install good anti-virus software on your device, scan and clean it to get rid of the malware.
Pop-up ads start appearing
If all of a sudden, there is an appearance of adverts with links to websites that are suspicious, this is a sure sign your phone is infected. On no account should you click on those ads? They are most likely as a result of your mistakenly downloading or installing some form of adware on your phone. You can solve this problem by deleting the most recent apps you downloaded or the singular app you find out introduced the adware on your phone.
Your battery drains quickly
This is another sure sign. If you notice your phone battery is always out of juice, then you might just have a virus. This is because malware and viruses use your phone’s battery and resources to drive the infection further. A way to take care of this is to Go to Settings on your phone, find the application that is draining the most of your battery power under the Battery section, if it is a genuine app then the cause of battery power might be something else but if the app isn’t genuine, just delete. Then scan and clean your phone with a good anti-virus.
Your phone overheats and performance is poor
The strain of having a virus on your phone is bound to make it overheat. This is because viruses, worms, malware use your phone’s resources to spread and this, in turn, makes it overheat or a phone which would under normal circumstances be quick with the performance of apps is suddenly very slow, this is a sign it is infected with malware. A solution is to scan and clean your phone with a good anti-virus.
Your data usage skyrockets
Noticed a sudden increase in the data usage on your phone? This might be as a result of malware. This is so because it needs the internet to send information with your phone or to show the advertisements with it uses to spread. A way to find and stop this from happening is, Go to Settings, under data find the app that is consuming the most data, if you feel it is a suspicious app, promptly delete it or uninstall it.
There are some other signs to watch out for like, Charges to your bill which you cannot explain, unfamiliar applications start making an appearance on your phone, frequent requests to download apps from unknown third parties. These are all designed to gain unauthorized access to your phone and are bound to cause you serious harm if they are left unchecked for any length of time.
