People use the Internet to scam people, steal their money, and unfaithful employees leak valuable information to rivals that has had devastating consequences for the business. To control these problems to some extent, ethical hacking has proven to be an effective remedy. There aren’t many ethical hackers out there who leave no choice but to learn about hacking tools ourselves.
These tools are particularly for secretly hacking cell phones. The technology has advanced to such levels that you can hack a device using its network connection and you don’t even need to install any software on the cell phone.
So Here Are Some Ways to Hack Someone’s Cell Phone
1) Midnight Raid
Midnight raid is a popular and easy method of hacking a phone. You can do it without any spyware installation. A typical hacker’s toolkit for using this method includes a laptop with Wi-Fi connectivity and two phones. One phone serves as a GSM modem for the laptop and the other for receiving information.
The reason it is called Midnight Raid is that this attack is usually carried out at night when the user is asleep and the cell phone is left unattended on the side table or plugged in for charging. It all starts with a text message that clearly demonstrates how easy it is to reach someone. You need to send a text saying “You are being hacked” on the target phone at midnight. This simple message invokes Internet Explorer on the target device when it receives the text message.
An app is then run on the phone to retrieve data. This SMS returns to the phone from which you sent the text and carries with it the unique identification of the phone, its IMSI number. The app can easily steal any information from the device. One can even send viruses to the device being hacked or initiate a denial of service (DDOS) attack.
2) Control message attacks
Control message attacks involve sending a control message on the device you want to hack. When you send the control message to the phone, you get access to the settings menu of the target cell phone. In this type of hack, you can control the settings of the device and the user would not be aware of this. You can easily uncheck SSL and leave the device vulnerable. It will not have any encryption. After that, you can press a wipe command that deletes all the information stored on the device. Since PCs do not have SMS capabilities, these tricks are limited to smartphones. Attacking through text messages is the easiest way to hack a cell phone.
When attempting to hack a cell phone, it is important to consider the type of smartphones that are susceptible to these attacks. It largely depends on the security settings of the device. According to a report by Gartner analyst John Girard, security issues arise as wireless devices become more prevalent.
3) Hack via IMSI Catcher or Stingray
Most of the protocols that mobile phones use are not completely secure, not to mention old! A device always identifies a cell site using its IMSI number, but the cell site does not have to. Since cell phones connect to the closest cell tower that emits the strongest signal on its own, it is quite easy to trick a device into connecting to a fake cell tower. This is what an IMSI catcher/stingray is.
This method is known by various names. IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier) receivers are also called Stingray (a brand that makes hacking equipment), Cell Site Simulator, and False Towers.
Stingray turns out to be a mobile surveillance device posing as a cell tower and showing itself as reliable infrastructure. This way, the smartphones you want to hack are easily connected to these cell towers. One can place these stripes at fixed locations or on a drone or a vehicle. In addition to detecting the location of the target device users, these devices also help to intercept text messages and calls from the target devices as well as devices within the target vicinity.
Basically, they work by impersonating a genuine cell tower and then intercepting the signals in the surrounding area. Manta rays can identify individual phones and then hack into their data. Sometimes they can even listen to calls, record them and track the movements of the user of the monitored phone.
Once you trick your device into connecting to the fake towers, you can easily read the unencrypted content and other communications the tower transmits to you. IMSI receivers are fairly common in law enforcement, but in recent years they have become more widespread among hackers and private investigators.
4) Wiretapping and monitoring via SS7
Although it is a protocol that is about 50 years old, Signaling System 7 (SS7) connects most of the mobile networks around the world. It allows you to benefit from services such as roaming and call forwarding. So this protocol has gotten a bit rusty as has its security. Hacking this protocol allows you to track the location of your target cell phone worldwide and even monitor their incoming and outgoing calls and text messages. You would only need the associated number.
5) Install a Keylogger App
The applications on our smartphones have access to all the information on our phones. They can easily access our contacts, pictures, browsing history, login credentials, and even our account details and locations. Although some of the information is present in encrypted form, all you need is a spyware keylogger app to record all the activity that takes place on the phone. A keylogging application records keystrokes before they are encrypted. You will need physical access to the phone to install the keylogger app.
6) Using phishing to get your credentials
No one knowingly installs a malicious app on their phones. If you want to hack someone’s cell phone, another way to do it is through phishing. With the help of phishing schemes, you can lure your target with fake versions of legitimate sites to extract credentials. These websites are getting more sophisticated and look just like the original sites.
If you somehow trick your target into accessing and giving your information to these sites, you can easily hack into their phones. If the target phone does not have antivirus or other virus detection software on their phone, they will not even know that they fell for a scam and gave information to a fake website.
7) Hack a phone by sending spam messages
Opting for this method allows you to trick the phone user whose phone you want to hack. Hacking through spam messages is one of the black hat techniques, and it can gain access to the victim’s Google account. Typically, people use their Google account for everything they do online. Your Google account is connect to your social media accounts, online shopping accounts, schools, universities, as well as your bank accounts.
Google account is actually the key to track anyone’s activities. If you get access to someone’s Google account, you can easily hack everything. You’ll need a security code if you don’t have your Google account password. Google sends that code to the target phone and that is why it sends a spam message to get access to that code.
This is what you have to do:
- The first thing you will have to do is go to the Google login page. Type the phone number of the phone you want to hack and then click on Forgot Password.
- Google would then send the verification code to the phone.
- Now comes the tricky part. How to get that verification code? If you can’t get physical access to the target’s phone, you’ll have to trick them into doing so. For that, you will have to send a spam message to their number.
- This is 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 have sent to your number.”
- After you have sent the spam message to the target phone, wait and see if you have been successful in tricking them. If so, they will reply to your spam message.
- After you receive the code, you will need to create a new password for the account. Just set a new password.
- Now, you can log into Google account and see everything that is happening and track every bit of information.
- With just your number, you can trick someone into gaining access to your Google account. You can access all emails, social media accounts, map locations, and even where they’ve shopped.
8) Use of free Wi-Fi to intercept communications
Anyone can set up a Wi-Fi hotspot. And whoever operates the network can easily see the unencrypted traffic passing through it. This applies to both mobile and Wi-Fi operators. Although an operator turns out to be a legitimate company that operates networks while complying with a number of regulations, a common man can easily set up a Wi-Fi hotspot.
There is another way to hack someone’s cell phone. If there is a certain person whose phone you want to hack but you have no way to access it, here is what you can do:
Set up a free Wi-Fi network near a hotel or coffee shop that you like to visit frequently. It is also a way to attract unsuspecting customers. After they connect, you can easily access all your unencrypted messages and emails.
9) Extracting data via a USB charger
USB chargers are not only use to charge the battery of phones. They can also help in data transmission when connected to a computer. It’s useful, but at the same time, USB chargers also happen to be an attack vector.
In most Android versions, the mobile phone mounts the hard drive the moment the cable is connect to the computer. The rest it can easily do and load spyware or malware so that it can access the data stored on the device.
10) Use a spy app
This is one of the easiest ways to hack someone’s phone. If you find the above methods difficult, you can save yourself the trouble and get spyware instead. There are tons of such apps available but you better use only the best hacking app.
