I think my phone got hacked

I hate smart phones. They're useful when traveling though, so I got one a while back.

So I hadn't touched this thing in months. I popped out the sim card that got in foreign country, and only used the phone while I was traveling a long time ago (there was also no service left on the card). So I have no service arranged for this in the US, and I've never tried to use it via my home wi-fi.

I just recently tried plugging it in to power it up, and immediately, without even starting the phone, get a screen that says that the firmware is being updated, and that I shouldn't disconnect the usb cable.

This strikes me as extremely suspicious, as the only way firmware, or anything else is going to be updated, is via a network connection, and the only way it would have a network connection would be if I had some "free" phone service that I never asked for, or somehow the phone connected to my password protected wifi network even though I've never used it via wifi.

Even if there were a legit network connection, the idea of any computing device "updating" itself without either the initiative or permission of the owner strikes me as fishy at best.

Oh, and to boot, I can't even shut down the phone when I hold down the power button.

Any feedback is welcome.

Could factory reset the thing

Hacking of a phone while possible is pretty unlikely and rare though the idea of a foreign sim card gives me the heeby jeebies

While your at it...changing your passwords won't hurt

Put it in a Faraday cage.

If you haven't clicked on any links on your smartphone or installed any suspicious apps, then it's unlikely that it has been hacked.
Uncontrolled smartphone behavior can be confusing, I agree. The update program often annoys me too.
However, I believe that modern technology allows their creators to have unlimited access to your smartphone. I mean, even if hackers haven't gained access, the creators have. And the authorities.

I'm skeptical about that. My impression is that it's the opposite, that phones are actually very vulnerable to malware.

How do I do that?

It doesn't even have any sim card in it. I've got the foreign sim in a bag.

I'm actually not using a password on the phone itself.

The issue here is that in principle, a phone could be set up to auto-update. However, to update, it would need a network connection to update, right?

I don't have any paid service on the phone, so it shouldn't have a network connection that way.

I haven't granted it access to my wi-fi network, so it shouldn't have network access that way.

So where is it getting the network connection from?

I haven't installed any apps yet, but I've been thinking about installing uber, google translate, and some other apps.

I guess I should have put a caveat there... unlikely if regular sort of internet etiquette is applied. Like if you downloaded a phishing link your screwed no matter what device you use. But phishing emails are fairly easy to spot. What I define as hacking is a specific intent of getting access to a specific device. Malware is a way to do that but a lot has to go wrong for malware to get onto a phone in the first place. Ditto using things like unsecured public wifi without a vpn.

Like I know for android a sort of old school way to transport malware was with the online apps not sold on the app store That got stopped mostly by it becoming a security feature that you download only from the app store.

Factory reset would depend on make and model of phone.

Yes. hi May, The phone system may have downloaded its update before you took the sim out while you were overseas, and it's been waiting to install until it was turned on. Alternately, its system might have a schedule pre-set for it to look for updates which prompts it to put that message you saw - whether or not the phone is connected to a signal. I have gone back and forth overseas a few times in the last 6 years and the phones I have do tend to act weird when I turn them back on sans sim. (lol that sounds funny outloud) I can ask my consulting expert if you want but I don't think your phone has a problem. If you want to do a hard re-set, and have saved the important data from that phone, you can search how to do that for your device on your favourite search engine.

+1

I've turned it on sans sim (I like that term ) sans sim a long time ago, so I don't think that's it.

Ok, that part would make sense, if it's actually true.

It's ok, not necessary.

I thought there might be a general method for all phones. I should be able to look up the model no problem.

Thank you Seabird

Now that I have an explanation that makes sense, I'm reassured.