New threats to mobile operators
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:33 am
Cyber fraud involving the theft of personal data and user accounts has swept the globe, but the telecommunications sector has been hit hardest.
Why did telecom come under the close attention of cybercriminals and become a “tasty morsel” for them?
The leakage of personal user data has reached “epidemic levels,” according united kingdom phone number library to information security experts. In England, the telecommunications company TalkTalk was fined £400,000 for a cyberattack that allowed hackers to steal the data of 150,000 customers. And the credit bureau Equifax (USA) put 143 million people worldwide at risk as a result of a leak of personal data last year.
However, the most unpleasant thing is not so much the theft of data as such, but how the criminals then use the information they have obtained. They create new accounts on the Internet, and also use it to take over existing accounts. This allows them to hide behind the “honest name” and reputation of real users, in order to easily make fraudulent purchases and other scams in the future.
Why Mobile Communications Are So Vulnerable to Attacks
According to a report by research company Cifas, the level of identity fraud in the mobile communications sector increased by 60% last year. Experts believe that the main reason for this fact was the standard business model of selling phone contracts, which is used by mobile operators around the world. Cybercriminals are especially attracted to the option in which a user takes out a loan for an expensive mobile phone at a mobile operator’s store and then makes monthly payments for it. Fraudsters easily steal account data to access the user’s account, and while the user calmly pays the loan and suspects nothing, they steal his money. As a result, the user loses not only money, but also a mobile phone, for which he was unable to pay the operator on time.
Renewal of mobile service contracts is another favorite loophole for mobile scammers. For the convenience of customers, many mobile operators have streamlined complex processes for re-signing contracts. Hackers use the stolen data to take over existing accounts and change the victim's data. This type of fraud is so popular that there are even "black databases" of mobile contract account data that criminals sell to other scammers.
Why did telecom come under the close attention of cybercriminals and become a “tasty morsel” for them?
The leakage of personal user data has reached “epidemic levels,” according united kingdom phone number library to information security experts. In England, the telecommunications company TalkTalk was fined £400,000 for a cyberattack that allowed hackers to steal the data of 150,000 customers. And the credit bureau Equifax (USA) put 143 million people worldwide at risk as a result of a leak of personal data last year.
However, the most unpleasant thing is not so much the theft of data as such, but how the criminals then use the information they have obtained. They create new accounts on the Internet, and also use it to take over existing accounts. This allows them to hide behind the “honest name” and reputation of real users, in order to easily make fraudulent purchases and other scams in the future.
Why Mobile Communications Are So Vulnerable to Attacks
According to a report by research company Cifas, the level of identity fraud in the mobile communications sector increased by 60% last year. Experts believe that the main reason for this fact was the standard business model of selling phone contracts, which is used by mobile operators around the world. Cybercriminals are especially attracted to the option in which a user takes out a loan for an expensive mobile phone at a mobile operator’s store and then makes monthly payments for it. Fraudsters easily steal account data to access the user’s account, and while the user calmly pays the loan and suspects nothing, they steal his money. As a result, the user loses not only money, but also a mobile phone, for which he was unable to pay the operator on time.
Renewal of mobile service contracts is another favorite loophole for mobile scammers. For the convenience of customers, many mobile operators have streamlined complex processes for re-signing contracts. Hackers use the stolen data to take over existing accounts and change the victim's data. This type of fraud is so popular that there are even "black databases" of mobile contract account data that criminals sell to other scammers.