One of the world’s leading two-factor authentication firms has used search data to reveal which smartphone brands attract the highest interest from hackers worldwide. The platform examined the number of searches for terms like “how to hack an android phone”, “how to hack an iPhone”, “how to hack my girlfriends iphone” to determine the interest in hacking these smartphones over the last 12 months.
A world-leading two-factor-authentication platform has revealed which smartphones attract the highest interest from would-be hackers.
The platform, Rublon, analyzed the search data (1) for each smartphone operating system and brand name to reveal which type of smartphone is most likely to receive an attempted hack.
Interest in Hacking by Operating System
As can be seen there is significantly more interest in hacking the Android operating system over iOS.
- In 2021 there were 266,400 searches relating to hacking Android.
- There is an average of 22,200 searches per month relating to hacking Android.
- In 2021 there were 19,200 searches relating to hacking iOS.
- There is an average of 1,600 searches per month relating to hacking iOS.
- There is over 13 times more interest in hacking Android over iOS.
- Interest in hacking Android increased 49% in the last year.
- Interest in hacking iOS decreased 23% in the last year.
Interest in hacking Windows smartphones was pretty insignificant compared to Android and iOS which attracted to most interest from would-be hackers.
- Windows smartphones attracted 1,320 searches for the entire year. This is far less than Android or iOS attracts in a single month.
- Interest in hacking Windows smartphones decreased 50% in the past year.
Interest in Hacking by Brand
Perhaps unsurprisingly the iPhone attracted the most attention from would-be hackers.
- There were 726,000 searches related to hacking iPhones in 2021.
- Interest in hacking the iPhone increased 22% in 2021.
Samsung smartphones attracted far less interest from hackers, receiving only 15,600 searches in the entire last year. This is about a quarter of the hacking-related searches the iPhone gets in a single month.
There is little interest in hacking Huawei, LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Sony smartphones. They are included here for completeness. All 5 of these brands attract less than 5,000 searches related to hacking each year.
Data and Methodology
The table below shows the interest in each keyword over time. The average monthly searches and the yearly searches are also shown.
Each “keyword” in the list is an amalgam of all similar keywords. For example, the search volume for “hack iphone” includes “how to hack an iphone”, “how to hack my girlfriends iphone”, “hack an iphone”, “hack my iphone” and tens of derivatives. The search volume is the total number of searches including all of the derivatives for each “keyword”.
| Keyword | Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 | Jun 2021 | Aug 2021 | Oct 2021 | Dec 2021 | Jan 2022 | Avg. monthly searches | Yearly searches |
| hack iphone | 60,500 | 60,500 | 60,500 | 60,500 | 49,500 | 60,500 | 74,000 | 60,500 | 726,000 |
| hack android | 18,100 | 18,100 | 18,100 | 27,100 | 22,200 | 27,100 | 27,100 | 22,200 | 266,400 |
| hack ios | 1,300 | 1,300 | 2,400 | 1,900 | 1,300 | 2,400 | 1,000 | 1,600 | 19,200 |
| hack samsung | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,300 | 1,600 | 1,300 | 1,600 | 1,600 | 1,300 | 15,600 |
| hack windows phone | 140 | 110 | 110 | 110 | 90 | 90 | 70 | 110 | 1,320 |
| hack huawei | 140 | 140 | 140 | 110 | 70 | 110 | 90 | 110 | 1,320 |
| hack sony | 90 | 70 | 70 | 90 | 90 | 70 | 70 | 90 | 1,080 |
| hack nokia | 70 | 50 | 90 | 70 | 40 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 840 |
| hack lg | 70 | 50 | 40 | 50 | 40 | 70 | 50 | 50 | 600 |
| hack motorola | 30 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 360 |
How can a smartphone be hacked?
Your smartphone can be hacked if you click on a suspicious website or link. To prevent this avoid any websites or links that seem “off”.
Avoid using public Wi-Fi because this opens you up to attack if a hacker is also on the network. They may redirect you to a fraudulent website to access your login details.
Do not download suspicious-looking apps from your app store. Although companies like Apple and Google do their best to vet each app, some can slip through the cracks. If in doubt, don’t download.
Someone with direct access to your phone can also hack your phone. Often this will be a person close to you – does your partner know your phone pin? If so, there is a chance that they will download spyware or stalkerware onto your phone without your knowledge. This software can track your location, texts, call history, and emails.
People are 13 times more likely to search “how to hack my boyfriends phone” than “how to hack my girlfriends phone”.
People are 17 times more likely to search “how to hack my husbands phone” than “how to hack my wifes phone”.
Very sophisticated hackers can target your phone directly. This is unlikely to happen to the average person considering the resources required to implement such a hack. However, hackers can exploit flaws in the code of your operating system. In 2021, iOS had 76 such securities vulnerabilities reported while Android had just 16 (2).
How to prevent a smartphone hack?
- Don’t click on suspicious links in texts, messages, or emails
- Use a secure password on all your devices and software
- Turn on two-factor authentication on your phone
- Only install apps from your official app store
- Keep your operating system up to date
How do you know if you have been hacked?
Most hacks go under the radar and you’ll never know for sure if you have been hacked. However, if you notice any of the following then you might have been hacked:
- Your phone is unusually warm to the touch
- Your phone switches itself off randomly
- Your phone is unusually sluggish
- Your battery is draining unusually fast
What can you do if you have been hacked?
If you know which app is causing you issues, you need to delete the app, update all your apps and software, and change all your passwords.
You can wipe your phone and restore it to factory settings. When updating your phone, only install the apps you absolutely need and only do so from your official app store. Change all your passwords.
Consider getting a new phone. This is the only surefire way of making sure you are safe. Change all your passwords.
Michal Wendrowski, Managing Director and founder of Rublon, said,
“With over 1,032,000 searches relating to hacking specific operating systems and smartphone brands, it shows the importance of keeping yourself safe online. We hope this research shows people how prevalent the interest in hacking phones is. It is important to note that not all of these searches will result in a hack. That said, most successful hackers do not hack a single phone, they hack thousands at any one time.”
Rublon is a user authentication platform that enables companies and consumers to protect their information using multi-factor authentication (MFA) for logins to networks, servers, and applications. Users approve logins by tapping a security key or a button on their mobile phone, after entering credentials. Deploying Rublon MFA helps organizations to comply with data protection regulations like HIPAA and GDPR. Rublon’s mission is to ensure that all people are able to keep their data safely protected online, without worry or stress.
References
(1) Search data is from Google Ads. This shows the number of searches per month from Google search, YouTube, and Google search partners.
(2) “A walk through Project Zero metrics”. Google Project Zero.
