Due to the convenience of technology, it is not uncommon to find abusers maintaining surveillance on their victims. Unfortunately for the victims, if you want to break free, you must first deal with the restrictions placed on you – one of which is digital surveillance. Of course, after overcoming the huddle that is surveillance, the victims can then use technology to help them escape. Nevertheless, before that, you have to understand how your abuser carries out surveillance and the available countermeasures that you could put in place without raising alarms.

Observe the abuser’s behavior

A change in mannerisms is usually the best indicator when you want to know whether you’re under surveillance. For instance, if your abuser was always paranoid and needed to know everywhere you’ve been, then suddenly stops asking where you’ve been, it might mean that they have a GPS tracker on you. If the abuser insists on you keeping your devices on you all the time, and places significant emphasis on that, then you should start suspecting your devices of surveillance. Therefore, you should observe the abuser’s behavior and try to note the changes.

Check the installed programs or apps

In most cases, no one would go to the trouble of buying hardware such as the GPS tracker if it is possible to achieve the same effect using the software. Your abuser might resort to installing surveillance software on your devices. Therefore, you should check the installed programs and apps on your devices. When you find a suspicious app, you should immediately remove it. However, even then there’s little guarantee that it is gone from your system for good, which is why you should install an antivirus in your devices to clean out any spyware.

Watch out for interference

One of the most practical ways to tell whether your devices are bugged is to check out for static interference. When you receive a call and notice some static or after you place your device next to other devices and notice some interference, then there’s a high likelihood that your device is bugged. To counter this, you need to have the bug removed.

Device malfunction

If your device suddenly has poor performance, then you might be under surveillance. Surveillance tech tends to take up too much processing power, which slows down your device. Similarly, you might notice an increased number of popups and ads on your browser, especially when an ad-blocker is installed, which points to surveillance. You should also monitor the power consumption of your device and if you notice any inexplicable spikes, then you should be concerned about surveillance.

Account alerts

The great thing about using your email to register your accounts is that you always get a notification when you log in from different devices. Should you receive any of these alerts, you should review them to check whether they are mistakes or not. Of course, if you happen to receive an alert for a login that you are not responsible for, then you should start worrying about your accounts being compromised. To avoid a breach in your account, you should install a password manager, which helps you come up with stronger passwords for your accounts without the need to write them down. Password security is something you should pay significant attention to. Additionally, you should use security features such as two-factor authentication and account encryption.

The Takeaway

All these domestic violence digital tips can be summarized into one – do you trust your device? If you find yourself in doubt over the security of your devices, then you should trust your instincts and take action. You should take as many measures to prevent cybersecurity as possible until you are confident that you can trust your device, even when you don’t keep it on you all the time. Nevertheless, you should never fully trust your devices because even the best security measures could be breached.

Blog by Promo @Techwarn