You are on your way home and suddenly the phone icon flashes, indicating that you have a new message. You press “read” to find out what it is and see that it is from an unknown number with a suspicious attachment. The second paragraph reads as follows: “Your SIM card has been infected.”
What would be your reaction? Most people’s immediate thought would probably be to delete the email without reading any further or even opening the attachment, but this may not always be best for you.
What Is A Sim Card Virus?
A sim card virus is a type of ransomware that encrypts files on your SIM card, making them impossible to access. It requires you to pay (usually via bitcoin) for the decryption key in order to regain access. Typically it will be indicated as coming from an email address with information about how much was paid and what they got in return so far.
How Does It Work?
A sim card virus works by disguising itself as a legit email, usually from your service provider or someone within the company. Once it is opened and read on an infected phone, the malware will be installed without you knowing
and encrypt all contacts in the SIM card’s memory. The next time you try to access any of those files (such as texts messages)you will get a message that says “Your SIM card has been infected” and ask for payment up front before it unlocks them.
What A Sim Card Virus Does
Once opened, it will install malware that encrypts all of your contacts in the SIM card’s memory and then locks them with an extortion note. It also has you enter personal information such as name, address, phone number so they can call you up when they need payment for “unlocking” those files.
If this happens on your device (which is likely since most people don’t know what a sim card virus looks like), delete the attachment immediately and change your PIN code right away! There are two steps involved if this should happen: deleting the malicious email/attachment and changing your pin code. This way no one else can access or change your sim card’s settings.
How Can I Tell If My SIM Card Has Been Infected?
1. If you receive any emails notifying you that your SIM Card has been infected or warning you against downloading attachments: delete them immediately! – Your phone may act strangely including lagging loading screens or getting hot despite having little activity going on at the time; logs are also often wiped out by this virus as well.
2. Your SIM card may make strange noises when inserted into your phone or it might have garbled text messages and/or broken images on the screen.
3. If you’re having any other issues with your SIM card (no network, bad reception) try removing it from the phone and reinserting to see if these symptoms go away; they could be due to a virus rather than something more serious like a hardware issue.
What Can I Do?
If you’ve already been infected by this virus there are two options available: restore from backup or pay for a decryption key using bitcoin; we recommend restoring from backup unless you don’t have one and are unable – in which case paying would be a better option but costs you money.
1. Backup your phone before running any virus scan on it or making changes to the SIM card, this will ensure that if anything goes wrong and you have a backup of data then (someone) can always restore from the older copy.
2. If restoring doesn’t work (you don’t know how/don’t have time), consider paying for a decryption key using bitcoin; contact us first with details about your device model so we recommend an appropriate price point.
3. You may also find solutions in our other articles: ‘SIM Card Virus – How do I tell if my SIM has been infected?’ and ‘How to remove sim card viruses’.
SIM Card Virus Warning
1. It can be difficult to identify a virus on a SIM card without professional anti-virus equipment because some of them can be very small.
2. You can identify a virus on your SIM card by looking out for any of the following symptoms:
3. Your phone freezes or crashes frequently
4. Every time you reboot, there’s some odd notification and warning message on your screen that says something like “SIM Card has been infected”
5. You’re not getting messages or calls
6. You’re getting too many messages, they aren’t yours
7. The phone is very slow and takes a long time to load apps.
What Do I Do If I Get A Virus Warning?
SIM card viruses are a serious security risk that can lead to hackers gaining access to your private information. Today, we will be looking at how you can determine if your SIM card is infected and what steps you should take in order to protect yourself from the virus’s damage.
The first thing that you need to do- if possible- is backup up all of the data on your phone before running any virus scans or making changes to the SIM card as this ensures that when anything goes wrong (e.g., deleting important files) then someone could always restore from an older copy of those files while they find out how best deal with fixing it for good. If restoring doesn’t work (you don’t know how/don’t have the time to), then you can always use a USB cable and backup up your SIM card data, too.
Once that is done, if there are any alerts on your phone about possible viruses or malware attacks- don’t ignore them! A virus notification might just be because of an app permissions issue but it could also mean something much more serious so it’s best not to take chances. If the alert tells you to turn off Wi-Fi or some other connection in order for it to resolve the problem- do as requested. Otherwise, go through these steps:
How Can I Remove The Virus From My SIM Card?
SIM card virus can remove by following the following steps:
1. Ensure that your SIM card is not in use and remove it from your device.
2. Put your SIM card into a clean, new phone or laptop to check for any issues without risk of spreading anything else around. If you’re using an old phone with no data on it, this should be enough but don’t take chances so make sure there are no personal details saved inside before proceeding.
Doing these things will ensure that you have removed all traces of virus from your sim car and can start fresh again! Remember as well, if restoring doesn’t work (you don’t know how/don’t have time), then you can always use a USB cable and backup up your SIM card data to your own personal computer.
How To Remove SIM Virus From Android Phone
1. Backup your phone’s data
2. Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications
3. Find the app that you suspect has a virus and tap on it
4. Tap Uninstall, then confirm by tapping OK
5. Reboot your Android device
6. Restart the phone in Safe Mode (hold down the power button until the screen goes off, then press and hold volume up button)
How To Remove SIM Card Virus From iPhone
1. If you have an iPhone, turn the phone off and then on again
2. Restart your device by pressing and holding down the power button until it turns off
3. Press and hold down the home button for about 10 seconds to restart your phone
4. Plug in your charger into a wall outlet or other power source if necessary
5. Wait for at least 20 minutes before turning on your device again
6. If this doesn’t work, try restoring from backup or resetting all settings
How To Check Sim Card For Virus
How to check SIM card for virus:
1. Connect your sim card reader or iPhone to a computer.
2. Download and install the free app with anti-virus software on your phone (examples include Avast Mobile Security, AVG AntiVirus, Bitdefender)
3. Click “scan” if available in the application you just installed
4. The app will scan your sim card and tell you if it’s infected or not. If the SIM card is clean, then there are no viruses on it!
How SIM Card Viruses Spread:
1. Most people don’t know that if you use the same sim card in more than one device, then it can be easily infected with a virus.
2. It’s not just from using the same sim card in a different device, but also if you leave your SIM card inserted into an infected phone for too long
3. The virus can travel through contact with other devices and mobile networks that are already infected or areas where there is some type of communication disruption to infect more phones.
What Do I Do If SIM Card Viruses Spread
Most people use the same sim card for their phone and other devices like laptops. This is how they spread without being noticed because people don’t think to change it out when something goes wrong with a device
1. The virus can hide in your contact list too, so keep an eye on that as well!
If You Change Your SIM Card: – If you’re someone who changes their sim often, this won’t be much of an issue but if not then there are some things you need to watch out for – DON’T uninstall any apps or remove your contacts before changing the sim card to avoid having them “lost” forever
2. Remove all SD cards from the old one first before installing into the new one since most phones will automatically transfer data
3. Make sure you use the same number on your new SIM card
4. Finally, back up all of your data before removing the sim and installing a new one to avoid any problems. It’s always good to have an alternate plan in case something goes wrong!
What To Do If You Think Your SIM Card Is Infected:
1. Contact your service provider and ask them about the sim card virus or call their helpline. They should be able to detect it by asking you certain security questions, such as “what’s the name of one of your contacts?”
2. Change out the sim card immediately with a new, clean sim that has never been used before so that you don’t pass on any potential issues from your old one
3. Keep an eye on all devices connected to this phone for signs of infection like slow loading times or messages coming in without being sent. It could also mean some apps are not working properly either.
Conclusion
This blog post will teach you how to tell if your SIM card is infected and what actions to take when it is. If you don’t have a sim card virus, but think that someone else might be affected, then this article will also help you figure out the best course of action. Hopefully, this helps!