Why Are Hackers Targeting Phone Companies?

Cybercriminals aren't solely focused on stealing your smartphone information; they're targeting carriers themselves. Why? And what can you do?

As society's reliance on technology grows further, so too do the risks posed by hackers. There is a lot of information to be gained from hacking your smartphone and other devices, but what about when hackers can go straight to the carriers?

What's Happening?

This is an ongoing problem, but it's highlighted by some high-profile attacks on phone companies.

Phone firms have been exposed to a coordinated hack by an organized group believed to be of Chinese origin. Events such as this led to the UK promising to remove Huawei from their 5G network by 2027. While it isn't clear who is behind such hacking operations on phone companies, the fact that it's beginning to happen more poses a heavy risk to both organizations and customers like yourself.

Why Should You Care?

Phone carriers have a lot of information about you, perhaps more than you were aware of. According to ACLU, the six main phone carriers in the US know who you texted or called and when, your text message content, bill history, and more. Carriers such as T-Mobile allegedly also track your biometric fingerprint, some social media activity, and more. Firms may still collect timestamps and similar metadata even when you use encrypted text services like iMessages.

The point is: there is a lot of information to be gained from hacking phone carriers.

Since the LightBasin group allegedly was able to identify and track individual mobile phone numbers, it's evident that your right to privacy is not as well protected as perhaps it should be in the 2020s. While it's likely that hackers targeting individuals would go after people who hold influence and a small fortune, the fact that they could target you once in possession of your phone carrier's data is a discomforting thought.

Whether you're on iPhone, Samsung, or another brand of phone, you'll benefit from taking more interest in your privacy.

What Can You Do About It?

About the data your carrier has already collected? Not much, particularly if you were already subject to the hacks that have taken place. There is unfortunately not much that any one individual can do. If you sign up to a phone company and accept their terms and conditions, and their privacy policy, then you're agreeing to them conducting whatever data collection that they've listed in the documents.

However, that doesn't mean you have to be silent about it.

You can write an email or letter to your phone carrier expressing your concerns about how their data collection makes you vulnerable. Privacy is a right and no business enjoys unhappy clients, so using your customer power and acknowledging your complaints with your carrier is worth doing. Some phone companies offer benefits to switching networks, so you may want to look into changing from a phone company that has been targeted to one that has a more reliable history.

Signal, a free privacy-focused messaging app doesn't store any metadata about you. This also means that phone carriers are likely only able to see your download of the app, but not your individual calls and messages that you send and receive. Since it ironically relies on data, it may be more helpful if you have a phone package that gives you a lot of data but not many minutes or texts to send.

Apart from that, good privacy practices such as using a VPN, a password manager, and deleting old accounts that you don't use anymore are good ways to make you a target not worth bothering with.

Hackers Targeting Phone Companies

It is scary to think of the wealth of information that phone carriers and other corporations have collected and stored about you. It's always best to take the necessary steps to avoid becoming a target.

While there isn't much you can do about the privacy policy of the phone carrier that you're with, you can ensure through changes to your own behavior that you are keeping as safe as possible. If you want to go the extra mile with your privacy, you should consider buying a privacy-focused phone.