The Mobile Number, Our Most Precious Digital Asset, Now Endangered
Of all the technological breakthroughs the world has seen, none has been able to replace the phone number as our unique means of identification, be it on a local or international level. The absolutely critical position occupied by our phone number is going to remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future, especially when online transactions and interactions are increasingly becoming reliant on these numbers as the sole means of identification for accessing a host of online services.
Phone Number Manipulation Now Rampant
Control over something as important as a person's phone numbers should not be in the hands of untrustworthy individuals or companies, but that is precisely the reality on the ground today. Scammers are more and more having a field day with people's phone numbers, and the result is too worrisome to be left unchecked.
Scammers have perfected the art of hijacking phone numbers through a process known as SIM swapping or SIM splitting. This occurs when a phone number belonging to a subscriber is transferred to another SIM card belonging to the scammer due to the unlawful manipulation of the mobile operator. It also includes the case where a scammer succeeds in getting a new SIM card issued having the same phone number as their target's number.
To achieve this, the fraudster uses fake documents to convince the mobile operator to effect the change. Once this change is made, the scammer assumes control of the phone number to perpetrate a crime, while the original owner gets locked out of the network.
Any Solution in Sight?
Thankfully, the world has a company named FIX Network that is ready to combat this menace and restore safety to our digital assets and identities.
Backed by New Capital, FIX Network's goal is to ensure that the migration to decentralization does not compromise the security of our digital identities and for our daily transactions to proceed without threat. To do this, the company will build on the already existing cellular infrastructure by securing private keys and transactions on the subscriber's SIM cards, together with a newly introduced blockchain-based security protocol.
Phone numbers will be among the first digital assets to benefit from this new architecture and providing every subscriber with total control over their own phone numbers. The new security protocols by FIX Network will give subscribers the power to choose which service providers have access to their phone numbers, the purposes the numbers will serve, and the replacement procedure for SIM cards.
Summary
Since it will be impossible to convince people to reduce their use of phone numbers as a means of identification, it makes more sense to make these numbers safe and keep them out of reach from hackers. With FIX Network, people can be rest assured of the safety of their phone numbers and that scammers cannot influence the authentication processes that currently make this important digital identity vulnerable to fraud.
AUTHOR
Adedamola Bada
Adedamola is a computer engineer from Obafemi Awolowo University. He’s a crypto enthusiast, marketer, and writer who is seeking to achieve career excellence through hard work and a positive contribution to the organization that aspires for excellence
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