Something our experts are regularly asked is "can someone hack my SIM card in gild to listen-in on my calls, read my text messages and track my location?". Information technology's understandable that people would be worried about this, nosotros are constantly using our phones to shop and share lots of personal and individual data – the terminal affair we desire is someone hearing everything nosotros say and reading everything we ship to and receive from another person.

There are a few main reasons why someone would want to clone/hack a SIM card:

  1. Gain access to 2-factor hallmark codes sent via text message. This would permit the hacker to gain access to of import online accounts that would be otherwise protected, such as online banking.
  2. To receive another person's texts and calls, etc. This could be for a number of reasons including to spy on their communications activeness and contact with others.
  3. To impersonate another person. If someone has cloned another person'south SIM carte, not only practice they have the ability to receive their incoming texts and calls, but they tin can also ship outgoing texts and calls using their number. This means they could impersonate them to proceeds admission to important accounts, or even scam the victim's contacts.
  4. To target a high-value individual. Hackers volition often target people of a certain position in business organisation or of a certain level of wealth using this technique. Such every bit the recent instance of Twitter's Billionaire CEO, Jack Dorsey condign a victim to a SIM carte hacking technique known as 'SIM Swapping'.

And then, is it possible for someone to hack or clone your SIM card?

The curt respond to this is yes. It'southward absolutely possible for someone to clone or even hack your SIM card.

Notwithstanding, it's not that mutual – in fact installing spyware onto a victim's device is a much more mutual practice used by hackers. It'due south also a pop misconception that hackers can 'tap into' your SIM card to listen in on calls, read texts, etc without yous knowing. The reality is that it's actually very like shooting fish in a barrel to tell if your SIM carte has been hacked or cloned.

Overall, compared to traditional spyware, SIM card hacking/cloning is not as effective, much harder to behave out and is much more hands detected by the victim. On summit of that, installing spyware allows the hacker to collect other of import data in addition to the calls and texts messages from a user's phone.

Withal, let's look at two methods hackers use to gain admission to a victim's SIM card.

SIM card hacking boils downwardly to ii main methods:

SIM Swapping

An assailant using social engineering techniques to fob your phone service provider into switching your number over to a new SIM card.

This would involve trying to convince an employee of the phone service provider to bandy the number from one SIM card to another by posing as the account holder. If the hacker tin can convince the employee to swap the numbers, they will exist unwittingly giving up access to the account holder's phone number.

Some other fashion hackers can approach this method is past recruiting an insider who will help them bandy SIMS in bulk. Such a example was revealed recently with members of staff at a large mobile service provider in the US.

Once the SIM has been swapped, the victim's telephone will need to be restarted to consummate the transfer to the new SIM card. Typically hackers volition pose as the telephone service provider and send a fake SMS bulletin to the victim asking them to restart their phone to resolve a trouble.

SIM Cloning

An assailant gaining physical access to your SIM bill of fare and then cloning it onto a new SIM carte controlled by the hacker.

This is a method that requires the hacker to physically re-create the SIM card by placing it in a card reader attached to a computer. Duplication software on the calculator will and so let the number to be cloned onto a bare SIM carte du jour.

This tin also exist carried out wirelessly if the hacking method is sophisticated enough to break the in-congenital security encryption that protects the SIM card.

Once the hacker has a clone of the SIM card, they tin then use this in a device they control to access the victim's texts, phone calls and location data.

How to tell if you've had your SIM card hacked

There are a number of (usually very piece of cake) ways to notice if your SIM card has been cloned or hacked:

  1. You're no longer receiving calls and texts. If someone has cloned your SIM card or has convinced your network operator to switch your number to a new SIM card that they take in their possession, y'all won't receive any more texts or phone calls. A telephone number can only be associated to i SIM card at a time. You lot can easily check this by asking a friend to phone call or text you and if information technology doesn't come through and so you know you might have a problem. Notation: If you can still receive calls and texts then your SIM has non been hacked or cloned.
  2. Unrecognized numbers on your account. If you're checking the outgoing calls on your pecker and see numbers that you don't recognize, information technology might exist time to contact your network operator and attempt to go more than information.
  3. You receive a bulletin requesting y'all to restart your device. 1 of the very showtime signs of SIM hacking that you'll notice is a seemingly random text purporting to be from your network provider request you to restart your device. This is usually a bulletin sent from the hacker. Restarting the phone gives them a chance, whilst the phone is off, to steal your SIM details.
  4. Your device appears in a different location on location-trackers. If y'all're using something like Find My iPhone for iOS or Google's Detect my Device for Android, then this can be a good way to cheque for SIM problems. If your telephone is appearing in a different location, this is a sure-fire sign that your SIM card has been compromised and is existence used by a hacker. Note: In a lot of cases, hackers volition simply disable this setting.
  5. Y'all're locked out of your accounts. Lots of accounts apply a security feature called two-factor authentication. This is a feature that prevents a hacker from accessing your account even if they know your username and password. This works past confirming your login with a unique code sent via a text message. The problem is that if a hacker has managed to clone or hack your SIM card, they can at present receive that verification code and use it to proceeds access to accounts that they wouldn't accept had before. This has happened earlier in a real-life scenario as mentioned here.

In one case you've ensured that your SIM card hasn't been cloned or hacked, you may also want to check if someone has installed spyware on your telephone. As mentioned in a higher place, this is a much more mutual manner for hackers to eavesdrop on your calls or texts besides as reading other individual information such as emails, browsing history and account passwords. If you're concerned about information-stealing spyware then protect your device with our mobile security tools for iOS and Android.