How do I know if any of my accounts are compromised and what do I need to do to secure them?
I'm new to Mozilla/Firefox and made the switch because I believe my security is at risk. I'm not exactly sure what is happening and no one will help me. The biggest clue was out of nowhere my phone boots up as T-Mobile when I actually have an unlocked Verizon device. I also have phone numbers and info in my contacts that I can't explain and my contact info has been changed including a link to someone else's Gravitar profile in my user info. I'm missing calls, texts and voicemails. My settings keep changing to allow location and other sensitive permissions. I looked at my call history and it shows that I been calling my own number for exactly 27 seconds several times over the past week. My Samsung account and Google account show I have two devices with the same model numbers. I found a sent email to my other email account that dated back three years before I had the email it was sent from. I found an APN in my mobile network settings that looks questionable, it's set up with a username and password. Today I went into the Firefox browser using Duck Duck Go because there was a web address on the APN and my phone froze for no more than a minute and a website other than what I was looking for came up. I scrolled to the bottom to see who owned the site (WordPress associated with Gravitar) but there was a tiny little graphic on the bottom left corner that looked like a sound equilizer moving. It almost looked like it could have been coming from my internal system. So of course I clicked on it before thinking and was brought to a possible Chinese website I couldn't read a thing. Then I got off quicky after copying the address, made my Firefox security settings more rigid, closed everything out including my browsing history and closed the app completely. A few minutes later I got a notification that Firefox crashed and asked if I want to report it. I did. I guess I have a lot of questions. I don't know where to begin getting to the bottom of this. Google says it's Verizon's issue, Verizon says it's T-Mobiles problem and T-Mobile days contact Samsung. I think there may be more than one security issue I'm dealing with. I started using Signal as my text messaging default and I'm not known to frequent sketchy websites. I watch what I click on and check my Samsung, Google and Amazon security settings often. If someone could point me in the right direction that would be great. I don't know where to begin...
All Replies (5)
Hi
Have you installed Firefox for Android from the Google Play store?
What is an "APN"?
Hopefully this will help me to find a solution for you, or more possibly, point you in the right direction.
Hi, APN is the acronym for Access Point Name which is in your device settings under connections and network. It is configued by your mobile provider by default and you can configure your own given you use the correct codes from what I understand but I'm not exactly sure why one would need to do so. I have an unlocked Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with Google Fi as my mobile carrier if that helps clarify a bit more.
This does not sound like an issue with Firefox for Android, but is something that your mobile service provider should be able to help you with.
Yes I did download the Firefox app on the Google Play Store and I've contacted Google, T-Mobile, Verizon and Samsung. Each one of is telling me to contact the other. I'm now left to solve this on my own. I'm reaching out for some direction on how I can take security and privacy back for not only myself but the digital health of other people and businesses I come into contact with. I don't know what to do. I can't buy a new phone and definitely don't have the means to purchase security products. Are there any websites or reading material out there so I can figure out why this is happening and what I need to do? Also, why was I brought to a Chinese website when that wasn't what I typed into the search bar? After that I got a crash report from Firefox.
Hi
The range of issues that you mention are very extreme and well beyond the scope of this forum to support. Given the scale of the problem, you may be best resetting the device to factory settings and starting again, making sure that your have your account credentials stored securely elsewhere to be used on what should then be effectively a new device.