We all love our mobiles. Our phone is usually the first thing we check in the morning and the last thing we do at night - and we spend all day constantly using them.
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They offer us so much in the way of social media, websurfing, maps and e-commerce.
Newer smart phones also have great safety in the form of fingerprint or retina scan for device access. Because of this, the use of banking apps and e-commerce platforms are a safe and secure way to shop, pay bills and transfer money.
To add to the physical device security, most banks offer multi-factor authentication - a text message received when accessing their sites - to additionally verify the user. The idea is to stop cyber criminals transacting on a bank account if they have conducted identity theft on a proposed victim.
Competition laws have made it easy for smart phone users to change telecommunications providers to chase the best deals. This is good for consumers. Taking your number to another phone company is known as "porting". Yet, this ease of transfer has enabled cyber criminals to port a person's phone. That is, change the subscription service from the legitimate user to the criminal without authorisation. This is primarily done to receive the text message codes used as the multi-factor access to banking and other platforms. This is costing victims thousands of dollars and reducing consumer trust in the banking system.
Strict identification measures to combat the hijacking of mobile numbers by cyber criminals has recently been introduced by the federal government. These stronger industry-wide identity verification measures will make it harder for unauthorised users to transfer a mobile number from one provider to another. Some telecommunications providers do this already, but only an industry-wide introduction will reduce the opportunity for criminals.
If you unexpectedly find that you have lost phone coverage or reception on your mobile phone service, it is possible that your mobile number has been stolen.
Signs may include:
- You are unable to make or receive calls or messages when you usually can
- Your mobile phone is showing "SOS only", where reception bars usually appear
If you think your phone number has been illegally ported you should:
- Contact your mobile phone company
- Contact your bank urgently to alert it to the possibility of fraudulent activity
- Check your social media accounts for unusual activity
Nigel Phair is director of UNSW Canberra Cyber
