Dear TLS,
I am writing to bring awareness to a security breach I experienced today. I received a text from my cell phone carrier notifying me that my phone number was about to be switched to a different device. The message instructed me to call a number if this action wasn’t initiated by me.
Before I could respond, my phone service went dead, leaving me able to make only emergency calls.
This situation threw me into a frenzy as I scrambled to protect various accounts that rely on my phone number for two-factor authentication. I contacted my bank to freeze my accounts and notified my credit card companies to update my phone number. I also had to change verification passcodes, phone numbers, and emails for several online retailers.
Baruch Hashem, I managed to regain control of my phone number after a nerve-wracking 1.5 hours.
To prevent such incidents, I urge everyone to contact their phone carriers and ensure that strong security measures—such as PINs or other authentication methods—are in place. Strengthening these safeguards can make it significantly harder for hackers to access accounts and make unauthorized changes.
Thank you TLS, for all the great work you do. Please share this message to help raise awareness and protect others.
TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected]
It’s negligence on at&ts part. Even my mvno carrier usmobile sends me an email with a code I have to read back to them when trying to any such changes
Thank you for sharing
Thank you very much for the important information.
Good Shabbos
Mr. Benvenisti has written about this, likely 100 times or more on the Lakewood Scoop. Search his name and get his advice.
If you have easily benefited from his articles, perhaps he might return. Benefit now. My company saved of thousands of dollars and remained in business because of this man and TLS. Why are his articles not published?
I must agree, he has helped me with my website which was hacked and I potentially lost many thousands of dollars of revenue, and he would not take a dime from us .
This is not a new phenomenon.
And while the practices recommended are generally considered best practices, they are in no way foolproof.
A little while back a couple of cell phone store employees pled guilty on charges associated with them bypassing many of these security measures.
In that case they were being paid $1,000 per phone line they stole.
I have a block on my phone that hackers can’t get to my phone and my information
Care to share the name of the “block” software? From my extended research I doubt that any company can keep up with the hacks.
Turn on Sim Swap Protection. Every carrier by US law must provide it thanks to a recently passed bill.