How To Know If Your WhatsApp Is Hacked

There are several reasons why someone would hack another’s WhatsApp account — For parental control, mere suspicions of cheating, to have fun, etc. Your friend or partner may want to spy on your chats to know whom you chat with and what you talk about, etc.

The fact that WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted doesn’t guarantee that the App itself is not prone to hacking. Being the most widely used chat app, WhatsApp has all kinds of messages including your private ones which you may not be comfortable sharing with others.

It is vital for everybody to understand that their WhatsApp account can be hacked. However, WhatsApp has implemented a high level of security to an extent that for a hacker to be able to get into your WhatsApp account, they will have to spend a huge amount of resources and time.

This means that the highest possibility of your account being hacked is that the intruder had access to your phone or any other device that you use for your WhatsApp.

Do you have the feeling that someone has hacked your WhatsApp? I will show you the symptoms of your WhatsApp account being hacked and how to fix it.

Signs Of A Hacked WhatsApp Account

Some or a combination of the following symptoms may suggest that your WhatsApp is hacked. However, it might not be the case — there may be other reasons why your phone would behave that way.

1. Temperature Hikes

If your smartphone temperature hikes and gets warm all of a sudden, you need to beware. Often times, strong apps running in the background of your phone cause the phone to warm up and most certainly, this could be caused by a spyware.

2. Sudden Battery Drain

Some spy apps can significantly use your battery power, causing a sudden drop in your battery life. If you notice that you have to constantly charge your battery even when you rarely use the device, it is possible that there is a hidden app on the device. These spy apps often use location services to track the device and Wi-Fi or Mobile Data to send information about the device to the hacker and therefore consume a lot of battery power.

3. Increased Data Usage

Like I mentioned before, most of the Spy apps that are installed to track or hack a device will often use your data connection to relay information to the hacker. This means that they will use your data or Wi-Fi connection. Therefore, if you suspect that your WhatsApp has been hacked, the best way to determine for sure is to check the data usage. On Android devices, you can find this information in the My Data Manager section of the device settings. On iPhone, find the Data Usage settings in the device settings.

4. Background Noise

Another way to know if your WhatsApp is hacked is when you hear background noise when making or receiving a phone call. The reason for this is because the spy apps that are installed to monitor your WhatsApp can also be used to monitor other data on your device including phone calls and messages. One of the ways someone can monitor your phone calls is by recording them and the action of recording the phone calls can result in a weird background noise. You should be wary when you experience this too often.

Note however that, one of the signs above doesn’t necessarily mean that your device has been hacked, but seeing at least two or three may be a sign that someone is spying on your device.

Methods By Which Your WhatsApp Can Be Hacked

Now I am going to share with you some valuable methods by which your WhatsApp account can be hacked.

1. WhatsApp Web

WhatsApp Web is a feature of WhatsApp which allows you to access your WhatsApp account on your computer. You have to scan the QR code from the mobile device, then you can easily access your WhatsApp account on your computer in real-time. Also, you can access your WhatsApp account on other devices by using an app. This app helps you to access your WhatsApp account on multiple smartphones, you only have to scan the QR code from the main WhatsApp account and voila!

2. Your device backup file

The moment the hacker gets access to your device, within minutes they will be able to read or delete WhatsApp conversations from another device. After getting your backup file using the file manager, they can send it via Bluetooth or Xender to another device, or they can use auto-backup apps and directly email all your WhatsApp conversations in plain text by installing this app in your device and uninstall it when they are done.

The latest WhatsApp update is somewhat immune to this method but hackers may soon enough find their ways around it. It is always recommended that you update your WhatsApp frequently.

3. Open/Unsecured/Unknown Wi-Fi Networks

Just like it is risky using an unknown wifi connection with your email account, it is also possible for your WhatsApp to be compromised with the WhatsApp sniffer via a wifi network. Because every device has a unique mac address, if the hacker is able to spoof your mac address then he will be able to see all your WhatsApp activity.

4. Spy Apps

There are some third party spywares which help hackers to spy on your phone and WhatsApp conversations. Once the hacker gets access to your phone he installs the spyapp on your device. Most of these apps are not easily traceable, even to talk of unistalling. Even if you are able to trace and find the app you cannot easily uninstall. Once they get installed in your phone it hides somewhere if your system apps. Such apps can record all activities on your smartphone and send them to the hacker automatically  without your notice. These may include who accesses your phone, apps you open on the phone, your chats, photos, call logs, call recordings, etc.

The image below shows the control interface a spy app I used just recently. It is capable of sending screenshots of whoever unlocks your phone, screenshots of apps they open, SMS, WhatsApp chats, photos, location, contacts, etc.

How To Fix A Hacked WhatsApp Account

1. Logout of WhatsApp Web

The moment you suspect an unusual activity in your WhatsApp account, then it could mean that someone poking their nose in your WhatsApp chats and conversations. If they are using WhatsApp web, then you can confirm this:

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone.
2. Tap on the 3 vertical dots on the top right to display the menu.
3. Tap on WhatsApp Web, a new window will open,
4. Here see the list of last used clients, if you don’t recognize it, then chances are someone is hacking into your conversations and WhatsApp activities on your phone.

To stop this, tap on Log out of all computers. This will stop the intruder from accessing your activities. However, this should be a caution for you to check intermittently and log out all unknown devices.

If you find no device logged in via the WhatsApp Web then yours might not be a WhatsApp web hack. Proceed to next points.

2. Lockup your Apps

App locker enables you to lock any application on your smartphone hence securing it. So when an attacker tries to copy files from the WhatsApp Folder on your smartphone, they will first have to unlock your phone. It is also recommended that you secure your smartphone with a password: fingerprint is an extra layer of security.

3. Install Spyware and Malware Remover App

There are some AntiSpy apps that can detect malicious Spyware, Malware or Trojan apps on your phone and remove them. They can stop people from spying on you and keep your phone safe and secure. An example of such Apps available on the play Store is Free SpyWare & Malware Remover.

4. Check for Suspicious Apps manually

You can also check for SpyWare apps by manually going through your device apps. Most SpyWare Apps require Device Administrator option to be enabled in order to function effectively. You can disable this option for any App you suspect.

1. Open Settings on your phone
2. Go to Security > Device administrators 
3. Find the suspicious app and uncheck the box next to it. (Note the name of the app)
4. Tap on deactivate to deactivate the administrator rights.
5. Go back to Settings  and navigate to Application manager.
6. Scroll through the installed apps and find the app you noted in step 3 above. Change the view to show system apps if you can’t find the app, and search again.
7. Tap on the App to view the details.
8. Tap on permission and deny all permissions for the app.
9. Locate the Uninstall option and uninstall the App from your device. Since the Device administrator option is deactivated for this app, you can see the uninstall option. Without that option deactivated, the uninstall option for the app will be grayed out.

Tips To Secure Your WhatsApp Account

1. Always Logout from WhatsApp Web

Remember to logout of all your WhatsApp web sessions after using them. An intruder can get access to your WhatsApp conversations if you don’t logout of the web browser.

2. Lock WhatsApp

Your device’s screen lock feature alone is not secured enough to protect your Whatsapp. Whatsapp does not provide any lock mode, at least not yet, so you have to install third party apps to lock Whatsapp to prevent it from being hacked.

3. Don’t connect to any unknown Wi-Fi network

The most favorable way for hackers to access your apps is through insecure wi-fi connections. Most email hacks are done through insecure wi-fi networks and so is all other apps on your mobile phone including your WhatsApp account.
Using insecure wi-fi network connections is a very risky activity and it could be the one way through which your WhatsApp account could be compromised.

4. Don’t Install Apps from unknown sources

Allowing installation of apps on your phone from unknown sources leaves your phone vulnerable for hacking in case someone gets access to your phone. Always install apps from Google play store. Please check developer details, ratings, reviews of any app before install on your phone.

5. Don’t let anyone else get access to your phone

After discovering that with just a minute of accessing your phone, anyone can use the WhatsApp web, or a backup file to access your WhatsApp conversations, you ought to know that it is very risky to let anyone else access your phone. You should not share your phone with strangers because anyone can install a third party app in your smartphone to hack your Phone or WhatsApp account.

I hope this article has been of great help. Kindly leave your comments in the box below.

Credits to: Learningoceanteam, gotechug, tenorshare