The ugly truth of phone hacking and how to evade it

With the news of the shutdown of 'News of the World', you might have heard the term “phone hacking” several times. The chairman of the News Corp Rupert Murdoch shuttered the 168-year-old newspaper in response to a controversial phone hacking scandal. Mr. Murdoch and his son James were actually forced to halt publication of the historic newspaper as some of its top crews hacked the phone calls of some important political leaders in U.K. Anyway our discussion is on phone hacking. This article elaborates what the phone hacking is and tells how to protect yourself from phone hackers.

Phone Hacking

What is phone hacking?

In simple words, it is the malpractice of hacking into one’s voice mails without his/her permission. Most often, hacking happens when the hacker takes advantage of an entrenched network failure. In such conditions, hackers trick the failed network and force it to do something that it should not do in normal states. This is the way hackers can access to the voice mails of the victims and listen to their communications. You may know that the mobile networks store the voice mails of each mobile user. But they will be protected by a PIN. Some hackers even break into the voice mail database by guessing the PIN.

How it is done?

Put simply, for a talented hacker, the practice of phone is hacking is a simple craft. He/she needs to spend sometime on a mobile network or customer to find faults in the system and access to the voice mails. Though service providers always update their security systems, cunning hackers continue to hack the network in innovative methods. Many a time, hackers just go and guess PIN and break into the voice mails of victims. According to sources, it seems to have happened in the case of the New of the World phone hacking scandal. Reporters could access the secret telecommunication massages just making guesses over the PIN of many prominent personalities.

Hackers also make advantage whenever the network faces some failures. In these cases, they employ their technical talents to hack a number or the entire network. Of course, for a clever hacker, things are much easier to break into the voice mails of mobile users. Needless to mention the practice of hacking is strictly prohibited in several countries. The media people also have no right to break into the mobile networks in name of freedom to expression. In the aftermath of the New of the World incident, publishers of the newspaper were testified in the British Parliament for the wrongdoing.

Protection from hacking

Certainly, telecommunication service providers work hard to increase safety of their customers’ voice mails and private information. Under the developments of large phone hacking cases across the world, the governments have requested mobile operators to ensure the security. However, you can also take some steps from your end to resolve the burning issue in the following two ways.

Voicemail Protection: On reading about the large hacking susceptibility of your voice mails, it is really important to protect your voice mail to prevent hacking. You can make a call to your voice mail and set a powerful password. This is the most important step everyone should do to prevent phone hacking. While setting the password, you should remember to make it something stronger. Don’t just use 1234 or “password” itself as your password. Try a password that will not be easily guessable by hackers.

The help from Network operators: Mobile operators are expected to provide total security for your voice mail and communications under the Data Protection Act. You can request your mobile operator to increase the security of services given to you. In fact, mobile operators have recently introduced extensive efforts to provide secure service for their customers.

Bottom line

Cellular service providers across the world have stepped up security for their customers. The companies have rolled out several programs and spent lots of money to ensure security for customers from phone hackers. However, analysts suggest that prevention is better than curing in phone hacking also. Being a mobile user, you should be observant of possible hacking threats from various corners. Therefore, make sure that you have given a stronger password for your voicemail and other services. Only this way, you can feel total security from phone hacking. These steps will help you secure your private information, communications and messages. So be watchful, indeed.