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Mailinator launches Disposable SMS
- gus_massa 9y agoIt's only one number? (I can't imagine other possibility.) In that case it's even less private than the normal (public) email box of mailinator. Do they sell a similar service with a private box?
- DEFCON28 8y agoAccording to the linked article, they have a list of public phone numbers. I guess they can cycle through fresh ones every few days. Of course, if they simply provision a list of phone numbers and then give them up and get new ones, the new holders of the numbers won't be happy....
- lucb1e 8y agoSo perhaps we should fix the problem at the root, rather than needing disposable email address or phone number services.
- laxk 8y agoI'm almost ready to run updated version of https://tempophone.com https://tempophone.com. You will be able to buy numbers and send/receive text messages in private mode.
- wslh 9y agoThe problem is phone number reuse, if you try to open an anonymous Google, Twitter, etc account they immediately realize that phone number was already used.
- foodstances 8y agoA lot of services that use SMS for new account verification also block numbers from non-mobile providers, even ones that haven't been used before. I tried using a Twilio number as a Google-Voice-like service where it would forward texts to my actual number, but many services refused to accept the Twilio number.
- Operyl 8y agoYep. We’re able to figure out VoIP numbers pretty easily thanks to services like Twilio Lookup. Helped out anti fraud out so much.
- chmars 8y agoIs there any non-VoIP telephony left?
- Rjevski 8y ago"VoIP" is a generic term in this case as they mean numbers that can be rented online by a customer directly, with little to no identity checks - sadly those are often used for fraud, though outright denying service on this basis alone is a dick move IMO. Pretty much all telephony is VoIP for at least parts of the call chain, though there are still even analog circuits in place; here are some numbers that lead to analog switching gear: http://www.binrev.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48166-ukrainian-crossbar-exchange/ http://www.binrev.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48166-ukrainia...
- jasonjayr 8y agoBut blocked legit users who ported their real phone numbers to VoIP, like I did. Google won't verify an account against my home phone line anymore. How can we continue to reduce fraud while still serving folks who are using the system legitimately?
- bluedino 8y agoWhich brings the question, when will 'ipv6' for phone numbers come out?
- BillinghamJ 8y agoWhy would it need to...? We aren’t running out of phone numbers.
- userbinator 8y agoWe will, if this trend continues...
- always_good 8y agoPhone numbers are regularly cycled. The nice thing about something like ipv6 is that you could build a system where reuse isn't any more convenient.
- jldugger 8y agoAnd with your own personal block of /64, you could give out unique numbers to anyone you want ^_^
- hk__2 8y agoWe need to think about it before running out of phone numbers.
- Latteland 8y agojust like we did for ipv6. think about it for years, people argue and we kind of solve all problems but too late.
- tehlike 8y agoI keep getting calls for the previous owner. I would love if i could get something unique.
- 8y ago
- Sir_Substance 8y agoPhone numbers do get recycled in a lot of countries though.
- lucb1e 8y agoAre there countries where it's not necessary to recycle them?
- anarazel 8y agoWhich is really annoying. Still getting calls, two+ years in, for the previous owner of my number. Including from medical providers.
- therein 8y agoA CVS half a continent away from has been calling me thinking that I am the previous owner of this phone number for the last six months or so. First they were leaving voicemails that I need to pick up a prescription and that they will return it in a day and stop calling me. But they have been calling every few days or so ever since. I had this phone number for over 4 years.
- dragonwriter 8y agoThat's always been the case. The problem is that, especially over the last couple of decades, people have built lots of systems with a central assumption being that phone numbers are uniquely tied to individuals. So, instead of fixing those systems, I guess the idea is to adapt phone numbers to the faulty assumptions made about them.
- exabrial 8y agoGood! SMS should have never been a 2fa technology, hopefully this causes a splash and services start actually pushing people to TOTP and U2F!
- pilsetnieks 8y agoYou can't really intercept SMS with this, you know that, right? You can't just write any existing number and start to receive messages sent to that number. You can only use this to receive messages sent to phone numbers assigned to Mailinator, and frankly, if you're using their numbers as a 2nd auth factor, you kinda deserve what you get. It's no different than signing up for any service with a Mailinator email address. The only bad scenario was if they somehow got hold of real mobile numbers that real people were actually using before but that were lapsed and got recycled, without those people removing the numbers from, say, their Gmail accounts.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- tehlike 8y agoNot with this, but intercepting sms's do exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker#Interception_of_communications_content https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker#Interce...
- aviv 8y agoIntercepting SMS is incredibly easy. Not with this tool, but via other methods. SMS is broken and should never be used for any type of sensitive communication, be it 2fa or pics you don't want to see online.
- 0x0 8y agoIs there a list of phone numbers available for SMS? Or a a way to generate a different number? Or do you have to go with the one number linked in the blogpost? By the way, looks like you can see the sender's phone number for incoming SMSs by choosing "JSON" as the format.
- progval 8y ago> You can find the Public SMS numbers on the left navigation of Mailinator's "email" page (which we should probably think about renaming, huh?) or follow the link below. But I can't find the list they are talking about
- Canada 8y agoThese are going to get blacklisted quickly
- huhtenberg 8y agoThey already are. Doesn't work for anything notable with a sole exception of Steam, which will probably blacklist it in an hour.
- middleclick 8y agoUnless someone comes up with a single-use-only phone number, this idea is not going to work.
- mankash666 8y agoIf one sends an email to <number>@... they treat that as an SMS? Does this get delivered as an SMS to said number? How's the deletion happening on the phone? Do they delete the sms from the phone's SQL lite db that holds sms-es?
- homero 8y agoI don't get it, only 1 number?
- bsimpson 8y agoWould have been a dastardly April Fools if they just told you to make up any phone number and then try to check its SMS messages on mailinator.com.