![]() However, if any of these non-phone/email accounts has a higher threat level (one of the victims watched his hacker search in his Dropbox folders for files containing the names of executives who managed the bank accounts at his former company), then you probably want to create a separate account for that as well so that if the email address you use for multiple sensitive accounts is ever breached, that one won't be as well. And if your phone number gets compromised somehow, it won’t endanger your email or any of the other sensitive accounts. That way if your primary email address gets compromised, it can’t be used to steal your phone number (and vice versa). If you follow several of the steps I outline in this story (unless you go with Google Voice), you’ll end up with at least three email addresses: your current primary one, one just for your mobile carrier, and one that you use for other sensitive accounts such as online banking or Facebook or Dropbox. Up till now, most likely, your phone number and your email address have been the gateway to all your other accounts. Use a mobile-carrier-specific email address to access that account. It helps but if the hacker talks to an unwitting customer service rep, game over.Ģ. So, add a passcode to your account, but don’t rest easy after that. However, as several hijacking victims discovered, if the hacker finds a customer service rep who forgets to ask for it or lets other information such as address and last four of your Social suffice, then your number can be hijacked anyway. How To Keep Your Phone Number From Being Hijacked Here’s how to protect your phone number and your web accounts for your email, online financial institutions and more. But they could just as easily perpetrate these crimes against anyone with a cellphone who uses any of the above services. The fact that your phone number is used for security but the telcos are not safeguarding them has created the perfect opportunity for hackers, who have so far made off with millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. With just one factor (the code), they create a new password for themselves, and now can do whatever they like with your account. You enter the code and gain access to your account.īut when used for password recovery and reset, they don’t even need to enter the first factor to have the codes sent to them. Called two-factor authentication via SMS, it requires a password, which in authentication theory is one factor - something you know - and sends a code to you via text message, with the phone being a second factor - something you have. Additionally, a wide range of companies from financial institutions to email providers use this passcode-by-text security method, which has known weaknesses. ![]()
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March 2023
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