Family Hack
Hacking and electronic privacy intrusion have become two very prevalent concerns for attorneys and their clients involved in family law matters. Approximate three years ago, we were asked to assist a client who believed that her estranged husband had bugged her home and hacked her family’s electronic devices. We met with the woman and spoke to her for several hours. She reported that her phone would ring, and when she answered she could hear a recording play of herself having a conversation with a family member that she had while not on the phone a few minutes earlier. We checked her mobile devices and immediately witnessed them acting strangely. The screen of her cellphone went blank and then displayed various messages written in Arabic.
She reported that her phone would ring, and when she answered she could hear a recording play of herself having a conversation with a family member that she had while not on the phone a few minutes earlier.
The woman’s teenage son reported experiencing similar issues with his devices. Even the woman’s father living in a completely different house had the problems. One of our digital forensic examiners examined the phone and was able to determine that the family had not been hacked at all, but in fact, had somehow downloaded a computer virus. The virus had since run rampant throughout the home’s electronic devices, and we suspected, had even been transferred to the father’s house, likely by an infected device connected to his Wi-Fi. Once the problem was identified, we helped the woman isolate the virus and then eradicate it from her life once-in-for-all.