While the USA is immersed in spy conspiracy scandals, and spread news of uncovering a Russian intelligence network, the average citizens of both countries are toying with "harmless phone tapping" of others' conversations.
First of, it needs to be said, that it is not possible to intercept someone else's signal with just any box with antenna. The data transfer channel is well encrypted, so that only the mobile operators themselves, upon request by certain government secret services, can perform this kind of interception. It is possible however to track activities of your lovely wife without the need for such highly sophisticated methods.
Internet is abound with downloadable programs that can covertly work in the background on the victim's phone, recording and transferring elsewhere its coordinates, actual recorded conversations, SMS and even shots taken by the inbuilt phone camera. Some of these programs are able to function as a full-blown "bug", that allows you to hear everything that its microphone picks up in real-time. This is quite convenient when it comes to listening in on a secret meeting or even a more secret date.
Users most at risk are ones using phones with Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems. There are also spying Trojans for iPhone, however you would not be able to install it on a phone without jailbreak (official App Store, do not sell such programs).
It is pretty hard for an average user to determine whether his phone has a Trojan in it or not. However, there are few signs that may indirectly suggest one to believe that his phone has been tapped to.
1. Hot battery.
If your phone's battery feels hot, that means that it's being actively discharged. This is normal during a conversation, but if you have not used the phone for few hours, and the battery still feels hot, that means that some process is active inside, and it well may be a spy program.
2. Short battery life.
This point derives from previous sign - if the battery discharges too quickly, especially if you have not used the phone more than usual, which means that some potentially dangerous application is running on it all the time. You should however remember that with time, all batteries are prone to eventual deterioration of charge capacity, and short battery life is a normal occurrence. This should only alert you if you have noticed that one week you charged your phone once in three days, and then all of a sudden it needed to be charged daily.
3. Delayed power-off.
Pay attention to the time it takes to power the phone off. If it starts taking suspiciously longer than usual, is accompanied by multiple led flashings (the screen stays lit for some time after the phone is turned off), or it completely refuses to turn off, then definitely someone is happening with your phone. Of course, this may have to do with basic technical issues, but may also point to other less pleasant causes.
4. Strange behavior in general
If your phone's screen led display spontaneously comes on, the phone turns off, reboots, installs or starts applications on its own, then most likely you are already "under the hood". Of course, this may be due to faults in operating system, however you should not let this go unnoticed either.
5. Interference and bad reception
Interference can be of two types: those you hear during your conversation and those that happen when you come close to, say, audio speakers. In the first case, suspicious may be echoes and any other noises (clicks, hiss, etc) that disrupt your conversation at any time with any party. Sometimes this may be due to poor signal quality or other similar problems, but if this starts occurring frequently, regardless of your location and call destination, this may be a good reason to start worrying.
In the second case, this is a phantom noise of the transmitting antenna of the phone to other receivers, such as stereo speakers. You have surely heard this "gurgling" sound more than once.
It appears during a conversation and also in stand-by mode with short intervals, while the phone addresses the base station. Abnormal is considered constant "gurgling" while the phone is not in use. This may mean that the spying application is contacting someone to broadcast the sounds around it.
Alex Must is interested in TV news, most popular gadgets and hi-tech news. He writes articles about PC and hardware, 3D TV and gadgets, Tablet PC and other digital devices. Read more news on Alex Must's blog http://tvinlive.blogspot.com/
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