{"id":11829,"date":"2017-06-13T13:14:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T18:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/?p=11829"},"modified":"2017-06-16T16:09:47","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T21:09:47","slug":"facebook-can-hacked-using-phone-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/facebook-can-hacked-using-phone-number\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Facebook Can Be Hacked Using Your Phone Number"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought your online accounts were safe from hackers, think again. Hackers can now <\/span>hack your Facebook account<\/span><\/a>, bank account, and other online accounts through your phone number, thanks to an SS7 flaw. Thus, this isn\u2019t an issue with the security of your favorite websites, nor an issue of having weak passwords: it\u2019s an issue with attaching your phone number to your accounts. One of the easiest ways a hacker can get your phone number (if you don\u2019t have it visible online) is by stealing your phone. Ensure that a thief can\u2019t discover your phone number \u2014 or access your personal information \u2014 by activating Anti-Theft on your device:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"activate-anti-theft\"<\/a><\/center>With Anti-Theft activated in advance, you\u2019ll be able to protect your device, and all of the online accounts attached to your phone, in the event of loss or theft. You can use Anti-Theft to remotely block anyone from accessing your device, erase all of your data, sound an alarm (if you lost it nearby) and track your phone\u2019s location. It\u2019s an easy step to take to further protect your device against thieves or hackers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More: <\/b>Can Someone Hack My Android\u2019s Bluetooth?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The SS7 Vulnerability<\/b><\/p>\n

SS7, also known as the global signaling system, is a protocol suite that allows devices to communicate with one another worldwide. SS7 vulnerabilities are what allow hackers and spies to intercept text messages, listen to others\u2019 phone calls, and track smartphone users\u2019 locations. This means that they can intercept a text message to reset your password, or even divert texts to their devices to gain access to your account.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Hackers Can Use Your Phone Number<\/b><\/p>\n

For hackers that know how to use SS7 to their advantage, it\u2019s very simple to hack online accounts through a victim\u2019s phone number. All they need to do is go to the Facebook homepage, click on \u201cForgot account?\u201d, and then type in your phone number. Then, they\u2019ll redirect the text message (that you should receive) to them, so that they get your one-time password to log into your account. This same strategy can be used to access your Gmail account or other social networking accounts, too. <\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, this strategy has been used to <\/span>hack bank accounts<\/span><\/a> and drain victims\u2019 accounts instantly. However, this process is slightly more complicated than hacking into a Facebook account. Hackers first have to steal victims\u2019 passwords, phone numbers, and account information. Then, to authorize the transfer of money, they have to get a fake telecom provider in order to redirect the bank\u2019s one-time password to them. Once they have this information, they can log onto victims\u2019 accounts to transfer the money and approve the transfer because they control the whole process.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Protect Your Online Accounts<\/b><\/p>\n

Because of this SS7 flaw, it\u2019s important to never attach your phone number to your Facebook account or other online accounts. For account recovery, you should instead choose to receive email alerts. This goes for two-factor authentication, as well. Two-factor authentication will make your account much more secure \u2014 as long as you receive codes via email, not text message. You may also want to use apps that offer end-to-end encryption \u2014 in addition to activating Anti-Theft \u2014 to better protect your personal information.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have your phone number attached to all of your online accounts, you may want to reevaluate that decision. Find out why this practice is dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[245,301,303,308,312,146,3228,249],"class_list":["post-11829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-anti-theft","tag-app2","tag-app3","tag-app6","tag-app8","tag-facebook","tag-hacking","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}