We have recently learned that the personal mobile number of Boris Johnson, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has been freely available and publicly available on the Internet for the last 15 years, after it was published in 2006, by mistake, at end of a press release. Since then, his number has remained accessible until it was discovered a few weeks ago.
Of course, as different sources have confirmed, it seems that there would be no evidence that the data or communications of the British Prime Minister have been compromised, but it is true that having his mobile phone number publicly available significantly increases his vulnerability. to cyber attacks .
This has generated a real debate not only in the UK, but also in the European Union. And many users have wondered what could happen to us if, from one moment to another, our phone number is accessible to hundreds of thousands of people, including hackers and cybercriminals .
Although it is most likely that we, as private users, nothing happens to us, the same could not happen with high officials and public figures.
SIM swapping or hijacking
One of the most common cyberattacks is what is known as SIM swapping , which, even though it is very common, is difficult and complicated to stop. In fact, hackers often use it to exploit the exposed phone number of a public figure .
Also known by the names of SIM hijacking or SIM division , it consists of calling the victim’s mobile phone provider, posing as them, and requesting the “transfer” of the phone number to a different provider (which we would commonly know as portability), or order a new SIM card.
What’s more, to make the request more credible, the hacker can make use of any other publicly available information, such as your address or date of birth.
Once the transfer is complete, the mobile phone number is activated on the attacker’s SIM card, at which point the hacker can send and receive messages, or make calls as if they were the victim.
Access to bank accounts and social networks
It is a method that has increased notably in recent years. And that some public figures have already suffered, such as Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, whose SIM hijacking allowed hackers to publish, for 30 minutes, offensive messages through Twitter, with racial insults, blasphemies and praise to Adolf Hitler.
This is because, once hackers gain control of a phone number, they can access their different profiles online , since generally these types of social accounts are linked to the victim’s mobile phone number. How? Very simple: all they need is to ask the platforms to resend a temporary login code, by text message.
But something similar could also happen with access to bank accounts . This is what happened to Jack Monroe, a gastronomic writer and activist, who in 2019 warned that he had lost 5,000 pounds sterling (5,812 euros at the exchange rate) from his accounts that an unauthorized user accessed from a hijacked mobile phone.
Surveillance and data leakage
Finally, there is also another method, even simpler, that different hackers can use when attacking a certain mobile phone number. Of course, attackers need advanced spyware to keep it up.
How do they do that? The attacker can send a text message to the victim’s phone number with a hyperlink inside. If the person clicks on that link, spyware can end up infiltrating the phone, compromising much of their data.
Apparently, this was the method used last year to infiltrate and spy on Jeff Bezos’ conversations, especially after reports determined that there was a “high probability” that a text message, sent by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, handed over the spyware to Bezos.
Therefore, it is highly recommended to prevent our mobile phone number from being publicly displayed on our social media profiles . And, above all, take maximum care of who we provide it to (including companies and brands, even when they are known and trusted).
