Signs Your Phone Is Hacked: What Battery Drain and Unknown Apps Can't Show in the Prabowo Wiretap Case

Bareskrim, the Indonesian police's criminal investigation agency, named three suspects on 3 November in the illegal tapping of President Prabowo Subianto's number. A drained battery and apps nobody installed can point to spyware on a handset. Neither would have shown the tapping alleged in this case, which ran through Polri's Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS), with numbers entered without verification, inside the operators' networks.

What the phone can and can't show

Alfons Tanujaya of the antivirus firm Vaksincom told detikInet that LIMS interception is "sama sekali tidak terdeteksi" (not detectable at all), because the data is taken at the operator. Spyware such as Pegasus is different, he told CNN Indonesia: its traces can still be found by forensic examination.

Antara lists a battery that drains faster than usual, heat while idle, data use that jumps, and apps you don't remember installing among the signs of a planted app, plus camera or microphone indicators that light up for no reason.

The *#21# code is no test. CNN Indonesia notes that it shows call forwarding status and detects neither tapping nor malware.

What to do

On Android, Antara suggests going through installed apps, running Google Play Protect and reviewing camera, microphone and location permissions.

Suspected misuse of a number or SIM card goes to the mobile operator's customer service, CNN Indonesia says.