3 ms·
Was thinking about moving a line to Google Fi for this reason. I know they just resell T-Mobile bandwidth, but would they provide better account level security?
by jelled 4y ago
Was thinking about moving a line to Google Fi for this reason. I know they just resell T-Mobile bandwidth, but would they provide better account level security? Is it common for Google Fi customers to get SIM swapped?
- jareklupinski 4y agoyup https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-fi-data-breach-let-hackers-carry-out-sim-swap-attacks/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-fi-dat... my friend had google fi and was caught in this, among other things they had their instagram taken over. scary few days. thankfully their roommate works at meta... I think the only way to be really safe is to use one of the smaller MVNOs and never ever ever reveal who your carrier is
- jelled 4y agoThanks! Based on that article it seems that anyone who's reselling T-Mobile service would be vulnerable.
- computing 4y agoDo we know if Google Voice also uses T-Mobile? If not, might be worthwhile to switch SMS 2FA to the Voice number if a service allows voip numbers.
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoGoogle Voice isn't a wireless carrier. VoIP only.
- computing 4y agoThis is part of my question. How does Google provision VoIP numbers? When someone calls / texts a VoIP number from a normal number, that call / SMS travels over normal wireless infrastructure. So VoIP numbers are still connected to the same infra, right?
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoAs I understand it, yes, but not through a wireless carrier. They'd tie into the infrastructure somewhere else. They'd be more of a peer with Tmobile then a customer.
- lkbm 4y agoI've always figured I should have two numbers—one I let people know, and one for 2fa. But that's ~$20/mo and a moderate annoyance, so for now mostly just fingers crossed that eventually everywhere that matters will allow me to switch fully to authentication apps and hardware keys.
- jswrenn 4y agoI don't think that having two numbers will help much. I'd guess that most sim-swapped cell numbers are leaked in data breaches or acquired through data brokering. Enrolling a number in 2fa is letting people know your number, because you're tying that number to the account. A separate number for each account might help. Maybe.
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoI'm getting a cell phone plan just for 2FA. It's actually a Tmobile MVNO, we'll see how it goes. $2.50/month, RedPocket annual eBay plan.
- jareklupinski 4y agoif you have an apple watch, depending on your plan, it may have a different phone number wonder if that works...
- SkyMarshal 4y agoCan also do that with iPads. I have an iPhone and iPad both on the same T-mobile account but with different numbers.
- MetaWhirledPeas 4y agoAs a former customer of T-Mobile, I will say that the risks go beyond SIM swapping with T-Mobile. Their website is pretty bad, and there's a lot of silly PIN-based passwords and security questions going on. Getting away from that in favor of Google's security would be a huge win.
- SkyMarshal 4y agoDo you know any MVNO that does security really well?