On the 7th of January in 2018, days after bitcoin hit its highest record price, Michael Terpin lost nearly 1500 bitcoins. Baffling? Let’s take a look into the math. On said day, one bitcoin traded for prices between $15,790 and $16,969. This was quite a high valuation for a bitcoin in comparison to the bitcoin price now which only amounts up to about $8700.
But, how did he lose all of his money? He must have had strong strategies before investing this substantial of an amount. He fell victim to a SIM swap. SIM swap involves stealing a person’s phone number and using that to obtain access to several other accounts of theirs. Similarly, by taking control of Terpin’s phone number and using the “Forgot Password” feature in Google, the hackers gained access to both his phone and his email. Now, with this possession of two personal accounts, the hackers hacked Terpin’s crypto wallet and stole his digital assets and sold them seamlessly.
The January 2018 SIM swap wasn’t Terpin’s first. About seven months before this, he was hacked in the same manner. But, back then, he had not lost any assets of his. Although Terpin claims to have an incredible security protection routine which he scored a 9.8 on 10, according to the Wall Street Journal, the hackers still gained control of his accounts.
All that these hackers do is sit in a basement and formulate ways to crack into the most secured accounts to bag profits and finances of many. SIM swaps are tremendously precise. In comparison to other hacks which happen at a large scale, SIM swaps rarely happen.
What can you do to protect yourself from a SIM swap hack?
1. Add passcodes to a mobile account.
2. Explore your “forgot my password” option
3. Use a password-management app
4. Regularly use and update your internet protection software
5. Use any form of two-factor authentication
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