03-22-2021 03:54 PM
I would like to know what can be done to protect myself from this exploit/vulnerability?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3g8wb/hacker-got-my-texts-16-dollars-sakari-netnumber
Solved! Go to Solution.
03-24-2021 01:44 AM - edited 03-24-2021 01:44 AM
@Quantos - Avoid using SMS for two factor authentication. Unless there is a global change in the design and the way SMS works, there is little that can be done to protect yourself. It's doubtful that change will occur any time soon.
@JamesStewart - That company has only existed for a few weeks. Their website has existed for maybe a week. All these articles pushing that site appeared in the last week as well. Unusually convenient. Okey is also incorporated through a registered agent at that massive corporate LLC mailbox farm in Wyoming to hide who's really behind it. Lucky, who appears in most of the articles, has a financial interest in Okey as well so he's basically advertising a service he benefits financially from. Okey also collect the phone numbers of your contacts and any caller to your device as well. (It's in their terms of service) That's separate from the SMS monitoring "service" they're supposedly providing. Too many red flags. I wouldn't touch that site. So far none of the security experts have weighed in on whether or not Okey is even trustable or can even do what it claims at this point in time.
Additionally if that site does notify you of some supposed issue, what exactly can you do to fix it? By that point it's too late and it's not even something a service provider can do since the SMS messages are being intercepted before it even reaches their systems. Right now that site appears to be preying on users fears to make a quick buck on their monitoring service.
03-23-2021 09:18 PM - last edited on 03-24-2021 12:08 PM by dru
03-23-2021 09:21 PM
03-24-2021 01:44 AM - edited 03-24-2021 01:44 AM
@Quantos - Avoid using SMS for two factor authentication. Unless there is a global change in the design and the way SMS works, there is little that can be done to protect yourself. It's doubtful that change will occur any time soon.
@JamesStewart - That company has only existed for a few weeks. Their website has existed for maybe a week. All these articles pushing that site appeared in the last week as well. Unusually convenient. Okey is also incorporated through a registered agent at that massive corporate LLC mailbox farm in Wyoming to hide who's really behind it. Lucky, who appears in most of the articles, has a financial interest in Okey as well so he's basically advertising a service he benefits financially from. Okey also collect the phone numbers of your contacts and any caller to your device as well. (It's in their terms of service) That's separate from the SMS monitoring "service" they're supposedly providing. Too many red flags. I wouldn't touch that site. So far none of the security experts have weighed in on whether or not Okey is even trustable or can even do what it claims at this point in time.
Additionally if that site does notify you of some supposed issue, what exactly can you do to fix it? By that point it's too late and it's not even something a service provider can do since the SMS messages are being intercepted before it even reaches their systems. Right now that site appears to be preying on users fears to make a quick buck on their monitoring service.
03-24-2021 10:54 AM
03-25-2021 04:32 PM
Thank you both Nitro721 and Nighthawk. I think that I'm in not bad shape now.
03-26-2021 08:04 PM
Not sure the significance of this: https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp7ad/tmobile-verizon-att-sms-hijack-change but it appears the problem is solved at least inthe USA.