Whenever someone is asked to hack a phone, the first thought is to send the victim a malicious link that installs software on their device. But with growing instances of hacking people have become more vigilant and stay away from clicking any such links. So, how would you hack their phone when there is no software installed?
Well, there are ways you can hack an android phone without installing any software on it. This is no magic, yes, it can be done. Hackers from all over the world use different techniques to hack a device that has no software installed on it. How else could someone staying in India hack a phone in America?
Let’s see the different ways you can spy on someone’s phone without installing any software on it.
Man In The Middle Attack
A phone is a combination of software that works to make the phone work. This means every software sends signals to the network and receives information to make the entire phone work as one.
In Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) assaults, the attacker uses a variety of tactics to insert himself in between the phone app and the application server. Hackers can use MitM attacks to obtain and steal sensitive smartphone app data, perform phishing schemes, transmit viruses, and impersonate trusted organizations.
Basically, the hacker eavesdrops on the requests that the device sends and the ones it receives. It gives the hacker a comprehensive idea about the activities of the victim. Further, hackers can obtain personal information, passwords, or financial information, and/or persuade the victim to perform an action such as changing login details, executing a transaction, or starting a fund transfer.
This means the hacker not only has control of the android smartphone but of the person using the device too.
Social Engineering- Phishing
Phishing is a sort of social engineering in which an attacker sends a fake communication in order to fool a person into disclosing critical details to the attacker or to install harmful software, such as ransomware or malware, on the victim’s device.
Phishing begins with a phoney email or other contact intended to entice a victim. The message is intended to look to have come from a trustworthy source. If the victim is duped, he or she will be coerced into revealing private information, frequently on a fake website. Malware is sometimes installed onto the target’s Android smartphone.
Cybercriminals begin by selecting a group of people they wish to target. Then they craft email and SMS messages that seem legitimate but contain harmful URLs, files, or lures that dupe their targets into doing an unknown, risky activity.
This type of social engineering is frequently disguised as a password change for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or whichever service you desire to access. The email offers a link that must be followed in order to do this. Instead, users are directed to a mirrored site of the original landing page, which is programmed to save any information input.
This way you end up giving your data to the hacker without even knowing it.
Software Bugs
Some software is designed to make the user’s experience more comfortable. But this software also poses a risk for the user.
Certain programs and software are programmed with flaws. WhatsApp’s web client, for example, needs a client to scan a QR code using the phone on which the program is installed. It is convenient for accessing Whatsapp on your PC, but this convenience comes to an end when you learn that anyone who manages to scan this code has unrestricted access to all WhatsApp chats, shared material, and contacts.
This software might not actually have any bug which discloses your information to the world, but certainly, they are a threat to the victim’s privacy.
So, these were some of the ways an android phone can be hacked without installing any software on the target phone or device. You might need some other software to make this work, but in the end, when you have access to the device it will be worth it. Remember, hacking someone’s private phone is a violation of their privacy, thus do so only if necessary.