Security News
A Rockport, Massachusetts, man has pleaded guilty over his role in a scheme targeting people who had high-value social media accounts or who were believed to have large amounts of cryptocurrency. The man, Declan Harrington, 21, together with co-conspirator Eric Meiggs and others, targeted people who were believed to have significant amounts of cryptocurrency or high-value social media accounts, also referred to as OG accounts, through a method called SIM swapping.
SMS alone may not be secure, but mobile phone numbers tethered to a SIM card are: they're a unique pairing that is difficult to tamper with or copy. It is now possible to prevent fraud and fake accounts while seamlessly verifying mobile users using the most cryptographically secure identifier they already have - the SIM card embedded in their mobile devices.
Twilio announced an expansion of the company's IoT portfolio by offering Super SIM, the cellular IoT connectivity platform, as an eSIM Consumer Profile for eUICC-enabled IoT devices. Twilio's support of the eSIM standard allows companies to load Twilio's multi-carrier Super SIM profile onto their devices over-the-air, in addition to eSIM profiles from other providers, and then switch between the different SIM profiles as needed.
American telecommunications provider T-Mobile has disclosed a data breach after an unknown number of customers were apparently affected by SIM swap attacks. The FBI shared guidance on how to defend against SIM swapping following an increase in the number of SIM hijacking attacks targeting cryptocurrency adopters and investors.
"The attacks orchestrated by this criminal gang targeted thousands of victims throughout 2020, including famous internet influencers, sport stars, musicians and their families," according to an alert from the organization. In a typical SIM-swapping attack, attackers use stolen, sleuthed or phished personal information - including, crucially, a person's mobile phone number - to impersonate a target.
Ten people belonging to a criminal network have been arrested in connection with a series of SIM-swapping attacks that resulted in the theft of more than $100 million by hijacking the mobile phone accounts of high-profile individuals in the U.S. The Europol-coordinated year-long investigation was jointly conducted by law enforcement authorities from the U.K., U.S., Belgium, Malta, and Canada. The sweep comes almost a year after Europol led an operation to dismantle two SIM swap criminal groups that stole €3.5 million by orchestrating a wave of more than 100 attacks targeting victims in Austria, emptying their bank accounts through their phone numbers.
Brit cops have cuffed eight men in England and Scotland amid a probe into SIM-swapping attacks on high-profile US targets - including sports stars, musicians, and "Influencers" - that had money and personal data stolen. Last year unauthorised third parties took over the Twitter accounts of 130 celebrities including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and former US president Barrack Obama.
Ten men part of a criminal gang involved in series of SIM swapping attacks targeting high-profile victims in the United States were arrested in the UK, Malta, and Belgium. SIM swap fraud allows scammers to take control of a target's phone number either via social engineering or by bribing mobile operator employees to port it to a SIM controlled by the fraudster.
The partnership will see both companies develop innovative smart container solutions for domestic and international freight markets powered by uCloudlink's core patented Cloud SIM technology which accelerates the development of the global container transportation industry. Under the Agreement, uCloudlink will provide CVITC customers with technological platforms such as container sharing operation, transport capacity e-commerce, and truck drop and haul e-operation platforms for domestic and cross-border transportation.
The defendant is part of an alleged conspiracy involving at least eight others in the United States who stand accused of theft via SIM swapping, a crime that involves convincing mobile phone company employees to transfer ownership of the target's phone number to a device the attackers control. Freeman was named as a member of a group of alleged SIM swappers called "The Community" charged last year with wire fraud in connection with SIM swapping attacks that netted in excess of $2.4 million.