How to protect yourself from a SIM swap

A SIM swap starts with a social-engineering call to your mobile carrier and succeeds because the attacker can answer the carrier's identity questions using data bought from a broker. Fifteen minutes of work makes it dramatically harder.

Difficulty

✓Easy

Time

15 minutes

Cost

Free

Steps

5

1. 01Set a carrier account PIN and port-freezeCall your carrier and ask for both: a PIN required for any account change, and a port-freeze preventing your number being moved. This is the single most effective step and it costs nothing.
2. 02Move two-factor off SMSUse an authenticator app or a hardware key for email, banking and anything financial. SMS two-factor is precisely what a SIM swap defeats.
3. 03Secure the recovery emailYour email account is the master key. It needs the strongest authentication you have, because every other reset flows through it.
4. 04Reduce the data that makes the attack workThe carrier asks for your address, previous address and date of birth. People-search sites publish all three for free. Removing those listings degrades the attacker's script.
5. 05Freeze your credit as wellFree, at all three bureaus, and it blocks new-account fraud regardless of what else an attacker gets.