Sometimes we call a number in our contact list and another person answers. This happens when a telephone number is deactivated and recycled, meaning, the same number is given to another person.
A husband asked his wife who was the man who answered his calls. They had a phone fight as he did not believe that a phone number could be reassigned to another.
There are some reasons a phone number is deactivated. If one's visa or ID expires, he gets a notice that the number will be deactivated. If the phone with/or simcard is lost, the owner notifies the telephone company to have it deactivated for security reason. If the owner will relocate to another place, or for whatever reason, he will have his phone number deactivated. If the owner agrees to swap the current simcard with another telecommunications company's simcard for some benefits/added values/perks. After some time, it is recycled by the telephone companies.
The challenge here is if the new owner has a bad intent to exchange calls and/or messages with the contacts of the previous owner, and the contacts are not notified by the latter regarding the deactivation and change of his/her phone number. If there are some sensitive or confidential messages, it may invite trouble.
Another is when the same number is registered in some online portals or apps to verify the identity of account holder, then it will receive a code, and the 'bad guy' uses it.
If the phone with simcard is not locked and it goes to the wrong hands, important information linked to the phone number can be accessed. For example -- the email address. Sometimes we configure our email address to have a two-way verification or two-factor authentication (2FA) procedure -- via password and SMS. If it so, the 'bad guy' has the old simcard number, he can open the accounts with ease.
We must be very careful when we have an email app downloaded to our mobile phone, particularly when very sensitive data can be accessed there. Normally we get online bank statements via email and some notifications both by email and SMS. There are risks. The first user may end up being locked out. All account notification, alerts, password/password resets and security codes do not reach him.
On the other side, if the first owner has some issues, say, debts or whatever, and the number is recycled, the new owner will get some unwanted calls or messages.
For many of us, ordinary people, the trust in telecommunication entities with smart technical men and companies with top calibre employees handling our accounts, are there. Know that everyone or everything has some vulnerabilities. Once we are in a grid or connected to a network, the more vulnerabilities there are. We need to learn more to protect our privacy which includes our own data, personal and business.
It makes sense to ponder on the words of Ludmilla Morozova-Bus --
There's not enough manpower in the world to make sure networks are 100% secure 100% of the time especially with the prevalence of a cloud-based infrastructure.It is very essential for us to passionately make it sure that everything related to our identity, including phone number, is well handled and taken care of. When it is deactivated, inform all companies having that number linked to the account, and have the records corrected, and likewise notify people in the contact list about the change. For online accounts, immediately delete the deactivated phone number and make the proper changes.
By now we do not know if there will be a halt to recycling phone number, and at what point in time will there be such a distinct phone number 'exhaustion' as it goes from one user to another.
We must be very,very vigilant to protect our data because these days, data is a very huge thing. Increasing our awareness of various risks when we get connected within the grid, is very important. We must not leave things to chance.
As Kirsten Manthorne said,
You are an essential ingredient in our ongoing effort to reduce security risk.---
Photo credits: Pixabay
Comments
Post a Comment