How was Jeff Bezos's phone hacked?

At that time, you may have heard of the news that Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, and his wife, MacKenzie, are going to divorce after 25 years of marriage. MacKenzie would apparently only touch a quarter of Jeff's $ 137 billion net worth, but still $ 36 billion still makes it the most expensive divorce in history.

Bonus podcast: How much money are we talking about? In this episode of Consumer Tech Update, Kim talks about the imminent divorce of Jeff Bezos.

The circumstances that led to the divorce may, however, exceed expectations. No, we are not here to speculate on the couple's personal life, it's their own business. However, new details are emerging that could affect you more than you think.

Keep reading and see what these new reports could mean for our national cybersecurity.

Has Jeff Bezos's phone been hacked by Saudi Arabia?

The smartphone from Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, has been hacked by the Saudi government, said its security chief, Gavin de Becker.

In a long article in The Daily Beast, Becker revealed a so-called Saudi conspiracy to compromise Bezos' smartphone.

He also wrote that the hack had links with American Media Inc. (AMI), the publisher of National Enquirer, the tabloid that was exposing the details of the case of Amazon's CEO with Lauren Sanchez and threatened to reveal the private SMS of the pair.

Although he offered no concrete evidence, relying solely on circumstantial evidence, Becker wrote that his "investigators and several experts concluded with great confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone and had obtained private information ".

"To date, it's hard to know how much AMI knew about the details," he said.

For his part, AMI rejected the alleged links with the Saudis and claimed that his information on this case actually came from Sanchez's own brother, Michael.

Bezos hack has frightening implications for cybersecurity

I do not know about you, but acquiring the private information of Bezos via a tattletale instead of a smartphone hacking is more reassuring to the public, do not you think?

If a prominent individual like tech mogul Bezos, whose smartphone is supposed to be as impenetrable as a nuclear bunker, can be compromised, what does that mean for the rest of us, mere mortals?

Well, we are not exactly Jeff Bezos, but it means that anyone who is persistent enough and who has the right tools can compromise any phone or gadget. If someone wants to hack your phone, with enough patience and fat, he can.

But how? There are a variety of ways. For example, Bezos & # 39; may have clicked on a blocked link that was sent to him via email. The poisoned web page, in turn, could have installed the malware needed to compromise his phone.

Could it be a malicious application downloaded and installed on the billionaire's phone? What about a supply chain attack similar to the updated Asus malware hijacking that took place recently?

Or even worse, there may be an unknown day zero exploit that has allowed hackers to spy on Bezos' phone without being detected.

Now, it's a scary thought! Do not forget that the Saudis have also been accused of having exercised extreme surveillance over the electronic devices of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, without his knowledge.

As long as additional details will not be revealed about this so-called hack (which I doubt will ever be revealed), we'll never know it. However, you can be sure of the steps to follow to protect yourself from similar attacks.

Bonus podcast: No one is safe from hacking. You may not be a billionaire like Bezos, but you can take steps to protect your phone from hackers. Listen to this free consumer update for more tips on how to lock your phone.

How to protect your smartphone from hacking

Avoid third-party app stores

If you want to download apps, get them from official app stores such as Google Play and Apple App Store. These official application stores have security measures that prevent malicious applications from being available.

With few exceptions, in almost all cases, a malicious application will come from a third party source. If you use an iPhone, do not jailbreak your gadget and avoid installing jailbroken apps.

Install security software

Make sure your gadget contains high-performance security software. If you are an Android user, be sure to activate the real-time security program of Android, Google Play Protect. It will certainly be very helpful to contain malicious apps before they can cause any damage.

Never open risky attachments in emails

Do not open attachments of unsolicited emails. These attachments from fake emails are usually vectors of infections.

Be careful with the links

If you receive an email or notification from a site that you find suspicious, do not click on its links. It is better to enter the site address directly into a browser than to click on a link. Always check the URLs of the sites you visit and look for typos.

Update your gadget

Make sure you have downloaded the latest operating system updates and security. These updates usually include fixes to protect your device against the latest threats.

Turn on your phone lock screen

Here is a simple way to prevent hackers and hackers from physically installing malware on your phone – lock your phone!

You can choose to use an authentication code, fingerprint, pattern, or face recognition, but make sure that this basic security setting is permanently enabled.

Oh, and if you use an authentication code, make sure that it's something that will not be easy to guess. Do not use your birthday or your home address. Better yet, use a long string of numbers or characters.

CLICK HERE FOR SIX ESSENTIAL STEPS TO SECURE YOUR SMARTPHONE OR TABLET.

In other news, Facebook is still a popular place for cybercriminal groups to plot their attacks

Facebook has always been a hotbed of false news, misinformation, conspiracy theories, fraudulent advertisements and hate groups. Apparently, there is also a problem of cybercrime. In the end, illegal cybercrime services are not only available in the bowels of the dark network – they are also openly and blatantly advertised in Facebook groups and pages! What is Facebook doing to combat these dangers?

Tap or click to learn more about the threats we face on Facebook.