New report reveals apps which are most frequently hacked
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Facebook is the app most likely to be hacked (42%), followed by Instagram (30%) and WhatsApp (17%).
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Instagram and Facebook have access to 81.63% of a user’s data, more than any other apps.
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60% of respondents identified financial information as the data they are most concerned about being stolen.
To get a better picture of the landscape of mobile phone privacy in 2024, the mobile phone recycling comparison website Compare and Recycle has delved into the complex world of data privacy, and surveyed 2,000 Brits about their experience with being hacked and the apps that they have experienced this with, to reveal the apps where user profiles are most frequently falling victim to hackers.
Hackers are finding more innovative ways of accessing people’s personal information from their smartphones so everyone needs to be aware of the measures they can put in place to limit the chance of their personal data being stolen. With this in mind, the experts are also offering five tips to avoid falling victim to a password breach.
The survey revealed that Facebook is the app where your profile is the most likely to be hacked, with 42% of respondents sharing that their account on the platform has fallen victim to a hacker, meaning 23 million out of the current 55.9 million active UK profiles are at risk.
Each month in the UK, there are on average 44,600 online searches for terms around Facebook hacking, such as ‘Facebook account hacked and password changed’ and ‘report a hacked account on Facebook’.
Instagram ranked as the app second most likely to be compromised, with 30% of people experiencing hacking with this social media platform and 15,030 online searches on average each month made for account retrieval-related queries.
One in four of those surveyed (24%) said they would least like their personal messages to be stolen from their phone, making the third-place ranking of WhatsApp (17%) particularly concerning. Google followed closely behind, ranking fourth at 15%.
Rounding off the top five most likely to be hacked are banking apps (12%), with 60% of respondents identifying financial information as the data they are most concerned about being stolen.
Experts share 5 tips to avoid being hacked
1. Use a privacy screen protector to prevent others from viewing your screen
“Just 6% of the population use privacy screen protectors. When out in public, accessing your online banking, browsing online shops and logging into your social media leaves plenty of opportunities for hackers to view your phone logins. A privacy screen protector eliminates this problem and shields the content of your phone from any prying eyes.”
2. Don’t save all of your logins to your phone
“It’s all too easy to save logins to your phone, especially as many phones now encourage this for ease. The survey shows that 14% of people are saving logins to their phones, however, we urge against it. It would be all too easy for a hacker to access all areas of your phone with a saved password.”
3. Don’t use the same password for multiple websites/apps
“While it may be tempting to input the same password for all apps, this does put you at risk. If hackers manage to guess one password, they’ll have access to every single one of your accounts – it’s just not worth it.“
4. Don’t connect to unknown or public Wi-Fi networks
“1 in 10 (11%) people admit to connecting to unknown WiFi networks regularly when out and about. While this is often fine, an unknown network can leave you vulnerable to the work of hackers – if in doubt, use your air time data if possible.”
5. Secure your phone with two-factor authentication
“Two-factor authentication adds another layer of protection, especially for those who use the same password across all accounts. By adding two-factor authentication to your device, you’re helping to combat the risk associated with compromised passwords.”
