Last updated: February 16, 2023
Le sim card hack Is it possible ? The answer is yes. Hackers can use a technique called SIM Swapping to hack into your SIM card and take control of your mobile number.
The consequences can be dramatic, ranging from theft of your personal information and money toidentity theft. It is therefore important to understand how sim swapping works and how you can effectively protect yourself against this threat.
In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about SIM Swapping, how it works, and what steps you can take to protect yourself against it.
What is SIM Swaping?
The " SIM swapping » is a hacking technique that allows an attacker to take control of a victim's cell phone number. To do this, the attacker pretends to be the victim to his telephone operator using his SIM card, which he obtained fraudulently.
When the attacker has access to the victim's phone number, they can use it to carry out malicious activities such as identity theft or access to secure online accounts.
How to hack a SIM card?
For the attack to work, the cybercriminal will first collect information about the victim. To do this, it searches the web for every scrap of data that the potential victim may have shared.
Personal information of the victim may also be gleaned from known data breaches or leaks, or through social engineering techniques, such as Phishing, Or Footprint.
Then, the hacker simply calls the operator pretending to be his victim. Then, he excuses a card problem or loss or others. Finally, he asks the operator to transfer the victim's number to a new SIM card.
But how does he go about convincing customer service?
In truth, it is quite simple! A little poise, psychology and some personal information about the victim is enough to hack a sim card. With the date of birth, address and email account, this is usually enough to get a lot.
Once the new card is received, the attacker can simply insert it into their phone and activate it. This has the effect of deactivating the old card, and offers the attacker the possibility of using the new SIM card. Thus, he will be able to reset access to certain accounts or even bypass multi-factor authentication if it goes through an SMS.
What makes SIM Swaping so dangerous?
Already, the hacker will therefore receive your calls and SMS for you. He can even respond to your contacts pretending to be you. This attack can have consequences on your personal and professional life.
If you use a synchronization of your contacts and exchanges with an online account, it can even hack them and access your history.
They can also have access to your digital life on social networks since many offer to use the phone number as a secondary identifier.
Twitter co-founder victim of SIM Swaping
During the summer of 2019, even the Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, was the victim of hacking by SIM card exchange! His 4 million subscribers discovered insulting and racist messages published on his own Twitter account on August 30. This only lasted a quarter of an hour, but this resounding “exploit” revealed to the general public a threat that has existed since the appearance of smartphones.
To pull off this hack, besides SIM Swapping, the Chuckling Squad hackers used Cloudhopper, a service for tweeting via SMS. The latter verifies that the SMS has indeed been sent by phone number attached to twitter account before posting it as a tweet.
How to protect yourself?
Start by limit the personal information you share online. Next, avoid posting your full name, address, phone number, and other sensitive information.
Another thing you should avoid is sharing details of your personal life too much. It is likely that you have included some aspects of this in your security questions which are used to verify your identity.
Finally, although it is recommended touse two-factor authentication, it is now better to avoid the one based on sending an SMS. Instead of that, opt to use other forms of two-factor authentication, such as an authentication application installed on your mobile or on a USB authentication key.