A Hacker Could Steal All Of Your Text Messages for a Few Bucks

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While we often imagine hackers to be weirdos, lurking in a dark room, studying code to take over the world, this imagination just isn’t real. It’s about time we take a look at what hackers really are and how easy it is for a hacker to take advantage of your data. Did you know that it only takes a few dollars and a little bit of spare time to take someone’s data?

Hacking often doesn’t need any cyber skills, much like stealing someone’s money on the street doesn’t need the skill of a James Bond villain. Hacking simply takes a lack of compassion and a large level of dedication. 

Everything Can Be Taken Away So Easily

Cybercriminals are much like street muggers, because their intent is to steal and find weaknesses to do so. Let’s talk about a hypothetical story of a man named Rob getting hacked. His systems were broken into, but not by a Hollywood-like hacker, it was likely a young person who found an easy way in.

This stranger sent Rob a message with screenshots of his accounts, such as his Amazon and Netflix accounts, to prove he had access. He then revealed to Rob that he had access to his text messages, and then his Facebook account, in which he began messaging his friends and family. On Rob’s end, his phone and computer weren’t acting weird or showing any signs of being hacked. With his electronics acting normal, he couldn’t find a way to stop the hacking. It wasn’t long before Rob’s PayPal account was compromised.

You might be wondering how this could have happened. Let’s look at a few of the possibilities: 

You might use the same password on every website. This makes it so easy for cybercriminals to hack into all of your accounts. If one password is leaked anywhere, it can now be used for everything else as well. 

SIM Swapping is another way that cybercriminals can take a hold of your information. This is when a criminal convinces your carries to switch your information onto their cell phone. All it takes is a misguided person at your carrier and a confident criminal. 

However, this criminal didn’t even go there. They used a service called Sakari, which is a service that allows businesses to mass text their customers. With this application, a criminal can take hold of someone’s phone number. This doesn’t even affect the person’s access to their phone, so it can be hard to detect. Many companies will send you a text message while trying to get into your account so you can change the password, so the criminal can take these links before you do and change all of your passwords. This can escalate quickly.

While companies like Sakari will begin to tighten their security, it shows you how quickly and easily hackers can get in. You need to protect your data. Do this by creating strong passwords that are hard to guess, utilize two-factor authorization that goes beyond just using your phone number, and get in touch with IT experts who can help you. MyTek is available to help you with your data security, give us a call today at 623-312-2440.

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