We often talk about strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) as the ultimate shields for your online accounts. And they are fantastic! But there’s a sneaky scam out there that can bypass even SMS-based 2FA: the dreaded SIM swap scam. It’s becoming a serious problem, and if you’re not careful, it could leave your digital […]

Remember that time a celebrity’s Twitter got hacked? It might have involved something called “SIM hijacking,” a sneaky trick that can steal your phone number and wreak havoc on your online accounts. Here’s the 411 on SIM hijacking and how to protect yourself: By staying informed and taking action, you can keep your phone number […]

Enabling multifactor authentication is a good step toward better cybersecurity. However, if a determined hacker gains access to the account number associated with your phone number’s mobile carrier and they can guess the PIN you set up when you opened the account, these bad actors may be able to execute a SIM swap and circumvent […]

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had his account hijacked when someone successfully transferred his phone number to a different SIM. To prevent this type of situation, it might be useful to set a SIM PIN that protects access to your phone number. Contact your phone carrier to learn how to set this up.

If you use two-factor authentication, it’s best to rely on codes sent to other devices or applications such as Duo or Google Authenticator instead of SMS texts. That’s because SIM hacking is on the rise. This practice entails a cyberattacker tricking a customer service representative into reassigning a phone number to a new SIM card.