Arrests has been made for hackers that used SIM Swapping to steal $550,000
U.S Department of Justice has made the first conviction of the country in February for ‘SIM swapping.’ It seems like this method is finally being taken seriously, at least in the U.S.
Two more criminals have been arrested last Tuesday for stealing 550,000$ in cryptocurrency inbetween 2015 and 2018.
This method includes convincing the phone’s owner to port his phone number to a SIM card that belongs to the hacker.
If they are successful in doing so, the attacker can have access to all the one-time passwords, verification codes, and two-factor authentication received to reset passwords to victims bank accounts, social media, e-mail and even cryptocurrency accounts.
The defendants are even accused of trying to attack multiple cryptocurrency companies in an attempt to steal their data.
Recently , The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released a guideline that users can read to defend themselves against SIM swapping attacks:
- Don’t give unknown contactors any of your personal information.
- Try to minimize the information you share on social media.
- Set up a PIN or password on your cellular account.
- Use stronger passwords for your accounts with more sensitive information.
If you DO become a victim of this attack, consider taking following steps:
- Contact your service provider and immediately take back your phone number, then change all your passwords.
- Check your bank accounts for any purchases that wasn’t authorized by you, then report them to the related company if you were to find any.
