What can you do with your phone number?
You can use your phone number as user identification. It restores access to your accounts if you forget your password and helps in service delivery.
But, do not indicate the number unless there is a particular need.
In short, don’t use anything that forces you to opt out, and don’t use your phone number as an identifier.
Plus, we understand this – it’s not easy when most applications still do it. Most.
Phone numbers are outdated and insecure. Using a phone number to protect your online life gives attackers a dozen different ports for your digital identity.
And by reusing numbers, someone else could access your accounts by mistake!
Dangers of Mobile/Telephone Numbers in the Digital Stage
- Your phone number is closely associated with your personality these days.
- We use our numbers to exchange contact information, conversations, and text messages and confirm who we are on the network.
- Consider how many applications you have that now require you to “improve security” with SMS-based two-factor authentication.
- The problem is that it never meant phone numbers for anything more than user IDs on the telephone network.
- Many aspects of our digital life now depend on our mobile numbers. We get many benefits from this position: convenience, simplicity, and presumably safety.
- But you need to be aware of some critical risks and dangers before linking your phone number to your online identity.
Better ways to keep our digital lives safe
- Mobile two factor Authentication Apps like Authy and LastPass Authenticator are a stage in the right direction.
- Still, even if someone takes possession of the device containing your authentication app, you might be in trouble.
- The best solution is to completely separate your online accounts from your real identity without linking your phone number whenever possible!
- Apps like Session skip phone numbers entirely.
- Stay away from apps and services that call for a phone number.
- It will help keep your online and mobile life truly secure, reducing the chances of someone intruding on your privacy through hacking, SIM replacement, reuse. Rooms or doxing.
Cyber Security 101 Guide Protect Phone Number
- Assuming you have strong passwords and two-factor authentication is set up, do you think your accounts are now protected? Think over.
- There is still a lot to do. You may think that your social security number or bank account number is the most significant digit in your life.
- Nowadays, hackers can do a lot more damage with little effort using just your mobile number.
- But, unlike a social security number, you are much less likely to keep your mobile number secret.
- Then no one will be able to contact you! Whether you’re an AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, or T-Mobile customer, any cell phone number can be a target for hackers.
- And minimal effort to wreak havoc on your online life. You need to protect your phone number.
- Your mobile number is the only point of failure.
- Think about it. You always use your mobile. You use it when you register on sites and services, and sometimes you use it to enter an application or game.
How to protect mobile phone privacy?
- With the advent of smartphones, the way we communicate, shop, work, and have fun has profoundly changed.
- While this has brought significant benefits, it has also raised new privacy risks.
- Smartphones store a multitude of delicate data.
- When they end up in the incorrect hands, that is, in the hands of “meddlers” and cybercriminals, they can access passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information.
Measures to protect one’s privacy
- Fortunately, the answer is yes, and if you give me a few minutes of your free time, I can prove it to you. How?
- Simple, showing you how to protect your mobile phone’s privacy with some simple tips to raise your level of confidentiality.
- And it lowers the chances of running into identity theft or other unpleasant inconveniences.
- I assure you will be able to sleep reasonably soundly on the privacy front (reasonably safe, because absolute security does not exist in the IT world as well as in life!).
How Do Hackers Steal Cell Phone Numbers?
- It’s easier than you think. Phone numbers can be found everywhere, thanks in part to so many data breaches.
- Often, hackers find their target’s cell phone number while roaming the Internet (or from a phone bill in the trash) and call their operator pretending to be a customer.
- After receiving answers to a few simple questions, often nothing more than a person’s place of residence or date of birth.
- They ask a support representative to “transfer” the phone number to another operator or a SIM card.
- Once the “transfer” is complete, the phone number is activated on the attacker’s SIM.
- And the hacker can send and receive messages and make calls as if he were the person he just hacked.
- In most cases, the only indication that this has happened is that the victim suddenly loses cellular connectivity for no apparent reason.
- From there, it’s as easy as initiating a password reset for the accounts associated with that phone number. Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and others.
- A hacker could use your stolen phone number to steal all your cryptocurrency, assign yourself an Instagram username, or maliciously delete all your data.
- In the worst case, recovering your phone number can be difficult or impossible, not to mention the accounts that have been hacked.
- The best solution is to make sure this never happens.
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