It’s 2025, and cellphone numbers are omnipotent. We use our phone numbers to register for websites and online services, from retail and banking to social media and health care providers. You can use your phone number to restore a forgotten password, and even to get two-special authentic codes to safely log in to your accounts.
But if anyone can steal your phone number, they can effectively become you.
With your phone number, Hacker can start gaining access to your online accounts, and even cheat automatic systems to think that they are you when you call customer service. A laid phone number can sometimes be used to access the company’s network as if they were that employee, allowing access to sensitive files and data.
This is the more reason to actively protect your phone number Sim swappingA kind of cyber attack that involves a hacker -hijacking of a victim’s phone number. The good news is that it’s easier than ever to lock your number.
Sim -exchange attacks usually occur when an evil hacker calls a cell carrier that replaces a specific client. This hacker would use information they found online, like a client’s name and birthday, and then ask a customer support representative to transmit or “provide” that number to a different SIM card or carrier. As soon as that process is over, the person’s phone number will activate on a SIM card or phone controlled by the hacker, allowing them to make calls and send and receive text messages as if they were the person they had just hacked.
Often, the only sign that this happened is if the victim suddenly loses cellular service for apparently no reason.
SIM interchange attacks exploit weakness in the security controls within the internal systems of cellular suppliers that let representatives make changes to customer accounts without necessarily obtaining the express permission of the client.
To combat these types of tactics of accent and deceptions, called Social engineering attacksThree major telephone companies in the United States-AT & T, T-Mobile and Verizon have led security features that make it difficult to malicious hackers to cheat the client account, such as carrying their phone number.
Take a minute or two to check your operator’s account; These features are often not very well published very well and may not be able to default by default.
AT&T
In July, AT&T introduced their free wireless account -lock security function To help prevent SIM exchanges. The feature allows AT&T customers to add additional account protection by change on configuration that prevents any of moving a SIM card or phone number to another device or account. The feature can be switched on with the AT&T app or by its online account portal by anyone who manages the account, so make sure that account is protected by a unique password and multi-factor authentication.
T-mobile
T-Mobile allows customers To prevent SIM interchange And Block unauthorized numeric port free with his online account T-Mobile. The primary account -owner will have to log in to switch to the configuration, such as turn on or off it.
Verizon
Verizon has two security functions called SIM -protection and numerical lockwho respectively prevent SIM exchanges and phone number transfers. Both of these functions can be turned on with the Verizon -App and the Internet account portal of an owner or account manager. Verizon says that turn off the feature can result in a 15-minute delay before any transactions can be made-other security to allow the legitimate account holder to reverse any account changes.
