UNITY — With our lives wrapped up in our cellphones, let me assure you “what if” can happen.
My kids often scoffed at how “over the top” careful I was about cell phone use, wary of the notion others could hear phone conversations in the right circumstances (it’s a true story).
Then the unthinkable happened. My phone was compromised on or before June 21. A simple notification from our financial institution resulted in endless hours in the days and weeks ahead enlisting damage control after the phone breach.
Our account was hacked getting money out (which was recovered) and I was locked out of email and almost everything that had my cellphone and email attached to it.
Everything that had my phone attached to it had to be cleared. My work computer had to go through multiple stages of security clearance and our home laptop also had to be resecured. My phone was disabled from the provider and our bank accounts were in lockdown which meant all those lectures I gave our kids and young relatives about the importance of having cash on hand came to fruition when I had no card or account access unless going into the branch directly. This was not an easy task when we were on our way to a family wedding.
So much information came our way in two weeks and so many lessons were learned. The fact that I discovered three people in our small town experienced almost identical actions in the same time frame means we are all vulnerable.
I will never put my entire life into my phone, meaning I will be back to pen and paper calendar, no online banking from my phone and a dozen or more of the apps or activities I worked on our phone will no longer occur. These actions were my own decision and everyone has to gauge their comfort level after experiencing a phone compromise.
I promise you, it can happen to you.
Dozens of tech experts gave varying responses and theories but in reality, we will never know. Hackers are very good at their tasks, sadly.
Tips if your cellphone is hacked
Sign up for those bank notifications as that is what alerted us immediately that something was amiss.
Use two-factor authentication and don’t just give your cell number and email because, for two weeks in recovery mode, I had no access to either.
Have an emergency cash stash. This was an emergency and I was thankful we had access to money as cards were rendered ineffective until all security clearances passed.
Go with your gut when you feel something is wrong and go with the guy you trust for what to do next as you will get dozens of “this should work” or “I think this is what happened.” I could honestly write a novel on the whole breach topic.
Back up your phone because I promise you once a breach like this occurs, your phone is garbage and whether you believe a factory reset is the right thing to do or not, you’re going to lose everything on it regardless of what route of phone recovery or reset you take.
Potentially the RCMP could be involved but it’s best to call your local detachment and ask for direction.
Be careful when and where your Wi-Fi feature is turned on as that is one of the several theories we heard on how this breach took place. It appears that possibly because I always had the Wi-Fi option turned on my phone my phone automatically migrated to the free hotel Wi-Fi network and there the criminals sat waiting. Do you scan QR codes with your phone? My advice? Don’t. I was told that this feature does not always take you to legitimate sites. I responded to a restaurant survey on a receipt and entered a contest – did the QR code take me to the right place? No clue but it was another breach possibility.
Another great piece of advice was “Don’t get complacent” as sometimes the hackers can sit and wait out the recovery process and dive back into action. Be overly cautious, be suspicious of anything you are not familiar with and most of all, trust the people you trust in your financial institution and your phone provider while making a decision that feels the best for you.
This hacker, or hackers, as I was told by many who helped me recover from this incident, that for these fraudsters, this is their job, and they are often working in criminal networks. It is hard to get that proverbial paranoid monkey off my back after this experience.
My pathway doesn’t necessarily equate to your pathway out of a similar situation; however, I encourage you to take lots of notes to refer back to. Back up your phone if there is information you don’t want to lose. And, if you are like me, go back to the basics and use your phone for calls, texts, and emails and perhaps nothing else. In the wise words of my grandmother, “Love many, trust a few and always paddle your own canoe.”
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