The FCC Wants to Crack Down on SIM Swapping

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its proposed cybersecurity rules including an attempt to prevent the serious problem of SIM swapping – a common form of digital identity theft that is particularly difficult to protect against. A recent article in Popular Science ¹ looks at the what, how and where of this growing type of identity fraud.

What is SIM swapping?

SIM swapping refers to a type of fraud where attackers take over your phone number and use it to authenticate accounts that you own. If you have two-factor authentication, you will usually get a verification code sent to your phone in order to get into your accounts. That authentication process is the reason most hackers will SIM swap, because it’s an easy way to get into people’s email and bank accounts once they have the phone number.