Liz Weston: In 'SIM swap,' criminals really have your number. If you're not familiar with SIM swap fraud, prepare to be terrified.
This scam, also known as port-out or SIM splitting fraud, allows criminals to hijack your cell phone number. Once they have your number, the bad guys can clean out your financial accounts, confiscate your email, delete your data and take over your social media profiles. Fraudsters can do all this because many companies — including banks, brokerages, email providers and social media platforms — verify your identity by texting a code to your cell phone. Intercepting those codes can give a criminal an all-access pass to your financial and digital life. This kind of identify fraud has been around for years, but it's getting more attention after a wave of cryptocurrency thefts and attacks on high profile victims, including Twitter CEO Jack Dors ey, who briefly lost control of his Twitter account.
Please, for the Love of God, Make Sure You Delete Things Properly. Criminals Are Tapping into the Phone Network Backbone to Empty Bank Accounts. Sophisticated hackers have long exploited flaws in SS7, a protocol used by telecom companies to coordinate how they route texts and calls around the world.
Those who exploit SS7 can potentially track phones across the other side of the planet, and intercept text messages and phone calls without hacking the phone itself. This activity was typically only within reach of intelligence agencies or surveillance contractors, but now Motherboard has confirmed that this capability is much more widely available in the hands of financially-driven cybercriminal groups, who are using it to empty bank accounts. So-called SS7 attacks against banks are, although still relatively rare, much more prevalent than previously reported. Motherboard has identified a specific bank—the UK's Metro Bank—that fell victim to such an attack. The news highlights the gaping holes in the world’s telecommunications infrastructure that the telco industry has known about for years despite ongoing attacks from criminals.
Hackers are passing around a megaleak of 2.2 billion records. Delete All Your Apps. Monday morning, the New York Times published a horrifying investigation in which the publication reviewed a huge, “anonymized” dataset of smartphone location data from a third-party vendor, de-anonymized it, and tracked ordinary people through their day-to-day lives—including sensitive stops at places like Planned Parenthood, their homes, and their offices.
The article lays bare what the privacy-conscious have suspected for years: The apps on your smartphone are tracking you, and that for all the talk about “anonymization” and claims that the data is collected only in aggregate, our habits are so specific—and often unique—so that anonymized identifiers can often be reverse engineered and used to track individual people. Along with the investigation, the New York Times published a guide to managing and restricting location data on specific apps. This is easier on iOS than it is Android, and is something everyone should be periodically doing. Mbfinancial. In 2017, 16.7 million Americans’ lives were impacted by identity theft.
With the rise of online messaging, banking and shopping, criminals can intercept your personal data from anywhere in the world. So, as we move through Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October), consider taking stock of your online habits and activity. Are you inadvertently exposing your private financial details? Today, we’re sharing eight of the most common online missteps and the steps you can take to protect yourself. How to stop annoying robocalls on your iPhone or Android phone. Update May 10th 9:30AM ET: This article was originally published on March 6, 2018 and has been updated to include video.
Mobile spam calls have been a nuisance for years, but over the last few months, it’s felt to me like there’s been a surge of them. I get between four and six calls daily, and a quick survey of friends shows that I’m not alone. Every waking day brings with it a new barrage. Robocallers have upped their game by masking their spam with local, genuine-looking phone numbers. Sometimes their nonsense is amusing — like when you get a threatening voicemail about your impending arrest over owed back taxes — but the vast majority of the time, it’s an unwelcome distraction.
Robocalls have become so infuriating that the Federal Trade Commission received over 375,000 complaints about them every month last year. First, I’ll review some definitions since the carriers make important distinctions between these calls — even if they’re all unwelcome and annoying. Hiya: Free. So Hey You Should Stop Using Texts for Two-Factor Authentication. Hackers Distribute Malware-Infected Media Player to Hundreds of Mac Users.
The Reaper IoT Botnet Has Already Infected a Million Networks. Learn how to Catch a Phish. The stonefish is named for its ability to camouflage itself among ocean floor debris.
It is highly venomous, and its sting can be fatal to any human unfortunate enough to step on one. Recognizing and avoiding the stonefish is a swimmer’s best defense, but that is easier said than done. Like the stonefish, the email phish (or simply “phish”) is a master of disguise, lurking in inboxes and waiting for users to step on them. Russian hacking group Fancy Bear targeting hotel guests using unsecure Wi-Fi – Raw Story. Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop Them - NYTimes.com.