Thanks to online identity theft cyber criminals can steal our cell phone number, here’s how to defend against this cyber scam
Cyber criminals can steal our mobile number and then move many of the incoming notifications to another smartphone. This way hackers can receive security codes, such as those sent by the bank or online services with two-factor authentication, which will be sent via SMS to their phone as well.
It seems like an almost impossible scenario instead many hackers in recent times are managing to steal people’s phone number and then spy on every incoming information on our smartphone. The technique used to set up this cyber attack is defined as Port Out Scam. Basically, the cyber criminal does a kind of number portability from our SIM to his. A bit like when we change mobile phone operator. In Italian, this cyber attack is better known as SIM hijacking, as it moves the phone number from the victim’s SIM card to the attacker’s SIM card.
How does SIM hijacking work
At this point, the question many will be asking is: but how does a hacker do SIM hijacking by moving our mobile number to another card? The process is less complex than you might imagine. It involves an identity theft technique. Basically, the cyber criminal online goes back to some of our confidential information, such as our social security number, our residence but also our ID card number and then contacts our phone operator to request a phone number move from one SIM to another. Not always telephone operators allow this operation but if the hacker is able to pretend to be us he could make his own scam. Once the SIM is hijacked any incoming calls, SMS or other information will be sent to the attacker’s smartphone instead of ours. In this way a hacker can take possession of our bank accounts in case we received an access code via SMS, or access our social profiles if we have set two-factor authentication via verification on the smartphone.
How to prevent hackers from doing a SIM hijack
Although it is a very common cyber attack and difficult to prevent there are a number of “tricks” to put in place to prevent an attacker can steal our cell phone number. One of the first tips is to contact our operator and set a security code that identifies us when we make operations on our number, online or on the phone with an operator. Usually these passwords are 4 or 8 digits and it is better to choose a complex one that the hacker can not get to decipher. Once set for each operation, rate change, information or assistance with an operator we must indicate the code. If we don’t indicate the code it won’t be possible to complete any operation. This is perhaps the most suitable technique to prevent a hacker to pretend to be us on the phone with our manager. It must be said, however, that through an attack on our email account or our online account on the site of the mobile operator a cyber criminal could also trace this information. The advice is therefore to protect every our Internet profile with complex passwords and updated with constancy. Moreover we avoid to leave around on the Net too much personal information that could help a hacker to steal our identity.