Mark Grabowski discussed with Coin Telegraph a growing cybersecurity risk for Bitcoin investors: SIM swaps.
Instead of hacking your computer, cyber criminals are now targeting your cell phone as it can be the key to your most important financial accounts. Several cryptocurrency investors have been targeted recently and, in some cases, lost millions of dollars.
“In addition to infecting smartphones with malware, criminals are illegally spoofing users’ phone numbers (faking the number that an incoming call is from), porting their numbers (moving the number from a user’s phone to another phone controlled by the criminal) and even cloning SIM cards, the computer chips that identify a phone, to access users’ data and steal money,” he told the crypto news site.
Grabowski, a professor who wrote a book on cryptocurrencies, said the Federal Communications Commission and wireless carriers must provide stronger protections for customers to truly lock down cell phone accounts.
Instead of hacking your computer, cyber criminals are now targeting your cell phone as it can be the key to your most important financial accounts. Several cryptocurrency investors have been targeted recently and, in some cases, lost millions of dollars.
“In addition to infecting smartphones with malware, criminals are illegally spoofing users’ phone numbers (faking the number that an incoming call is from), porting their numbers (moving the number from a user’s phone to another phone controlled by the criminal) and even cloning SIM cards, the computer chips that identify a phone, to access users’ data and steal money,” he told the crypto news site.
Grabowski, a professor who wrote a book on cryptocurrencies, said the Federal Communications Commission and wireless carriers must provide stronger protections for customers to truly lock down cell phone accounts.
RSS Feed