Smishing, the new method of SIM card hacking
Investments in cybersecurity have increased in recent years, simply because our dear hackers have also developed a lot of methods to steal from us.
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The trend since the beginning of the year is piracy through the SIM card. To scam their victims, criminals use the classic SMS service. not so long ago we were talking about "SIM swapping. ».
Today a new technique has emerged called "Sminshing".
With this technique, hackers will do everything to pretend to be your loved ones, claiming to have had an accident or some difficulty that requires a certain amount of money.
The goal of course is to extract money from you by not forcing yourself in any way whats about it. This is a very easy technique and very nice to implement.
She's using text messages. It is unknown, but SMS is a gateway that hackers like. Because if you notice it is by SMS that we receive the codes for dual identification, either to connect to an online account or to confirm a purchase. It was from this ubiquity of SMS that the famous SIM swapping technique was born, which consisted of deceiving the mobile operator with the aim of transferring data from one SIM card to another in order to be in a position to receive certain information from the main owner of the SIM card through SMS services. It is thanks to this last technique that the account of the boss, Jack Dorsey, of Twitter was hacked.
Beyond that, researchers had also discovered a security flaw on some SIM cards that was now virtually impossible to fix. thanks to this loophole, hackers could send orders to the SIM card without the user's knowledge and thus glean information about the user.
As for the latest technique, it is simply to hack a person by deceiving him. Smishing does not require any technological or computer knowledge in practice. It has its source in social engineering. To do this, the hacker will inquire about his victim in order to have useful information for his project. He will then seek to know his relatives and their habits.
Something that has become pretty easy with social networks. Once he finds out who is closest to his victim, he will send a text message to them pretending to be a family member or a very close person. he will tell him that he is in a very delicate situation and that he would need the money to get by.
By playing on this sensitive chord, some victims are made to the delight of the cybercriminal.
In an article explaining the process, the website PhoneArena will expose an exchange between a hacker and his target to try to show a glimpse of what is happening. Here is the exchange as published: "Hi Jason! It's John, I've got a new number," the hacker laments before adding, "I hate to bother you with this but I'm far away and I just had a car accident. I'm okay but I'm in the hospital and I need 200 dollars to go home." A classic example.
Then the victim if he is not vigilant enough, will want to do everything to help his friend who is in need. This is why you are asked to be very careful when someone writes you mostly an acquaintance to ask you for help. Be vigilant, ask the right questions, especially try to find credibility in the story told.
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