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Eventually, this could make legitimate SIM swaps unusable. The point of SIM swaps was to retain a phone number when swapping carriers or SIM chips. If a number

Eventually, this could make legitimate SIM swaps unusable. The point of SIM swaps was to retain a phone number when swapping carriers or SIM chips. If a number becomes untrusted after a SIM swap, you may be better off getting a new number.

gruez 7y ago
>If a number becomes untrusted after a SIM swap, you may be better off getting a new number. Do you only use your phone number for 2fa? People don't call you or send texts? Keeping the same phone number is still convenient so people can still reach you at the same number.
- incompatible 7y ago
  I can imagine the convenience for most people. For me, not being a big phone user, it's not difficult. I did it recently when porting to a new provider failed to work (despite only needing my phone number and date of birth as input). Perhaps a few organisations didn't get the new number and can no longer contact me for marketing etc., but that's a bonus.
iforgotpassword 7y ago
Assuming it wasn't bribery but simple social engineering, what's there to prevent this from being abused? In Germany, porting the number to another carrier would be next to impossible without the victim realizing. You have to request from the old carrier to release the number for porting, then you have to tell the new carrier you want to port over the old number from the old carrier. Then the old carrier informs you via SMS and email when the switchover will happen. That date is usually at least one week in the future. And usually the evening before the switch you get another SMS. Pretending to have lost your SIM and requesting a new one might be slightly easier, I never needed to do that. But it would mean your SIM gets deactivated the moment they start the process of shipping out the new SIM, so it will give you at least a full 24 hours to notice you got no service, usually two days. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd also send you a text plus email before deactivation just in case. But in general I feel like call center workers here are very good at following the protocol. I'd be very surprised if you'd manage to convince one that you lost your phone and you also happen to have moved and want it sent to another address. But sure, if you're paying someone on the inside, all bets are off.
- incompatible 7y ago
  I could probably go a week before I noticed that my phone had no service. There doesn't seem to be much security at all in Australia. Enter the number and date of birth (and contract number, if it's not a prepaid phone) and wait a couple of hours.
  - iforgotpassword 7y ago
    > I could probably go a week before I noticed that my phone had no service. Fair enough, not everyone is checking their phone every 5 minutes. But otoh if you wouldn't realize it within a day or two you probably aren't using it for Apple pay, 2fa and whatnot so you're not a likely target anyways.
    - incompatible 7y ago
      Not using it for much stuff like that. But considering everything I wrote above, I think I'll start checking the service once a day.

gruez 7y ago

>If a number becomes untrusted after a SIM swap, you may be better off getting a new number. Do you only use your phone number for 2fa? People don't call you or send texts? Keeping the same phone number is still convenient so people can still reach you at the same number.

incompatible 7y ago
I can imagine the convenience for most people. For me, not being a big phone user, it's not difficult. I did it recently when porting to a new provider failed to work (despite only needing my phone number and date of birth as input). Perhaps a few organisations didn't get the new number and can no longer contact me for marketing etc., but that's a bonus.

iforgotpassword 7y ago

Assuming it wasn't bribery but simple social engineering, what's there to prevent this from being abused? In Germany, porting the number to another carrier would be next to impossible without the victim realizing. You have to request from the old carrier to release the number for porting, then you have to tell the new carrier you want to port over the old number from the old carrier. Then the old carrier informs you via SMS and email when the switchover will happen. That date is usually at least one week in the future. And usually the evening before the switch you get another SMS. Pretending to have lost your SIM and requesting a new one might be slightly easier, I never needed to do that. But it would mean your SIM gets deactivated the moment they start the process of shipping out the new SIM, so it will give you at least a full 24 hours to notice you got no service, usually two days. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd also send you a text plus email before deactivation just in case. But in general I feel like call center workers here are very good at following the protocol. I'd be very surprised if you'd manage to convince one that you lost your phone and you also happen to have moved and want it sent to another address. But sure, if you're paying someone on the inside, all bets are off.

incompatible 7y ago
I could probably go a week before I noticed that my phone had no service. There doesn't seem to be much security at all in Australia. Enter the number and date of birth (and contract number, if it's not a prepaid phone) and wait a couple of hours.
- iforgotpassword 7y ago
  > I could probably go a week before I noticed that my phone had no service. Fair enough, not everyone is checking their phone every 5 minutes. But otoh if you wouldn't realize it within a day or two you probably aren't using it for Apple pay, 2fa and whatnot so you're not a likely target anyways.
  - incompatible 7y ago
    Not using it for much stuff like that. But considering everything I wrote above, I think I'll start checking the service once a day.