As she packed up after a long day debugging hundreds of lines of code, Lorraine was ready
for some down time. She grabbed her backpack, trusty Android phone, and umbrella, and
headed home. She hopped on the SunRail and pulled out her phone to catch up. Scrolling
through social media channels, she noted all of the craziness going on in the world, and
then was quickly distracted by 23 unread text messages. She wondered how she had
missed all of those during the day, but opened the texts and started to go through them. A
few auto warranty texts, a few politicians eager for her vote on Amendment 3, a couple
from her ex-boyfriend which she promptly ignored, and then one that caught her eye. The
last message seemed innocent enough, it was from what looked like her Credit Union
asking her to verify a transaction. Lorraine had her identity compromised a while back and
she had turned on every security precaution possible on her accounts. She clicked the link,
and verified a small transaction from a convenience store with her passcode.
Arriving at her stop, Lorraine packed up and was looking forward to a relaxing evening with
LemonDrop, her Labradoddle. She heated up some dinner, fed LemonDrop and made a
conscious effort to put her phone and laptop away. She had had enough digital contact
today and needed to reset for tomorrow.
The alarm came way too early, but Lorraine popped up, turned on the news, grabbed a
steaming cup of caffeinated bliss, and began her morning getting ready routine. As she sat
down to apply her makeup, it occurred to her. Her phone was silent. Normally, mom gives
her a wakeup call to update her on the shenanigans of PookieKins, her Tabby cat. “That’s
odd” Lorraine thought, she picked up her phone to investigate. There were zero missed
calls, zero text messages, and TONS of welcome emails from new accounts that were setup
while she slept. A sinking feeling suddenly hit Lorraine. She attempted to make a call to
Mom and none of her calls would go through. She had been Sim Swapped. Her thoughts
quickly raced back to that SunRail ride and the authorization code she had typed in to
verify a transaction. “That’s when it happened” she thought.
Lorraine fell victim to an insidious new tech trend, Sim Swapping. Crooks get a hold of tiny
bits of your personal information, including authorization codes and access your cell phone
account. In Lorraine’s case, it was Verizon, and the cyberthugs were able to convince them
that they were Lorraine and transferred her Sim card to a new phone. Once this happens,
crooks can now have way easier access to your bank accounts, social media accounts, and
more because they now own your phone number.
How can you help to prevent Sim Swapping in your organization?
EDUCATION. Education is your first line of defense. Consider holding a monthly Tech and
Safety briefing with your team and alert them to new trends in cybersecurity.
VERIFY. Be certain to authenticate any request for any of your personal information that
crooks can use to access any of your sensitive data.
VIGILANCE. Be on guard and don’t click anything texted to you from an unknown number
or source. The same applies to email and social media messages.
STAY INFORMED. The tech world changes on the daily, and cyberthugs are usually five
steps ahead. If your business works with Advanced Systems Solutions, you can rest assured
knowing that we’re on IT, everyday, 24/7. Give us a call today to discover the ASSI
difference: (407) 414-6626 or visit https://advancedsystemssolutions.com/contact-us/.
