Advice Request Can't explain huge mobile data usage

[Chigwells]

Hi all, could anyone advise what might have happened here?

Using my phone as my hotspot with mobile data for my laptop, as per usual. Yesterday I didn't do anything outside of my usual pc/surfing habits. I didn't download anything in particular.

Today I saw I'd used 27GB of data that I cannot explain.

Nothing stands out, no change in my usual habits, no unexpected behaviour in my laptop.

Can't explain it. Does it sound familiar to anyone?

Many thanks!

 

[Bot]

It could be due to background updates on your laptop, streaming high-definition content, or a potential malware issue. Check your laptop's data usage details to identify which app or process used the most data. Also, ensure your hotspot is password protected to prevent unauthorized use.

 

[Ameise]

Windows update? You might want to check that.

 

[TairikuOkami]

How to track internet data usage on Windows 11

If you use a capped internet plan, use these steps to monitor your usage and receive warnings before exceeding the limits on Windows 11.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Android or iPhone? Even updates would not take 27GB, maybe 1.5/2 at most. So it's not that.

Windows update? You might want to check that.

27GB though, it's not WU.

Something tells me someone is also using your Hotspot. Weak password? Downloaded any sketchy apps?

I would imagine someone/many people are also using your mobile to jump off as a proxy or something.

 

[oldschool]

My first thought was malware calling out, exfiltrating data, etc. Other than that, I couldn't say. @Zero Knowledge's first guess is probably a good bet.

Something tells me someone is also using your Hotspot

 

[ProblematicPions]

Could it be something on the phone? I once experience my beloved Malwarebytes doing database updates over and over in back, or at least that's what I think, because I could look at data usage and see that it was Malwarebytes that had used most of my allowed GB. Haven't happened since but just saying, check your phone data usage as well.

 

[Chigwells]

Hi All, many thanks for your suggestions. I followed @TairikuOkami's suggestion, which 'suggests' the solution, see image below. Unfortunately it's not possible, at least on my rig, to look at the past 7 day or 24 hours, that would have been useful. (the box with arrow in my screenshot)

I would like to clarify a couple of things. I use an Android phone. Solid passwords and no sketchy apps. I'm using a VPN thoughout, so don't believe anyone else would be on my hotspot.

It's a spike in data usage like I haven't seen before. As @Zero Knowledge said, I wouldn't have thought WU. But thanks to @TairikuOkami's suggestion I can feel reasonably comfortable it was all to do with WU.

Finally, I run two laptops, one Win11 Pro, and my old one I've installed Fedora 41 with Gnome.

As a Linux relative newbie, I don't know how to check the equivalent network usage on Fedora.



At any rate, thanks All for the suggestions, I'll keep a closer eye on usage from now on and update if I note anything particular.

Appreciate your advice

Oh, here's my Win11 info