Hackers Have Stolen Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin Using Only Phone Numbers

Re:Hackers Have Stolen Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin Using ... by rahimnathwani on Wednesday February 08, 2017 @12:39AM (#13596086)

How was the hacker able to port the victim's number to another provider?

In the UK, the first step in porting a number is to request a 'Porting Authorisation Code' from your current provider. They don't give you that over the phone, but send you an SMS. So AFAIK you need to be able to receive SMS on the number already, in order to transfer the number to another provider.

So, was this hack enabled by a weakness in the US number porting process?

(In China, where I live, number porting isn't possible. Getting a new SIM requires you to physically present yourself and your passport or national ID card. If passport, the passport number must match the passport number they have on file, so a replacement passport wouldn't get around this requirement.)

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Re:Hackers Have Stolen Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin Using ... by emptythought on Wednesday February 08, 2017 @03:52PM (#13601970)

These SocEng attacks are to retrieve that code from the old provider. It works the same way here

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Re:Hackers Have Stolen Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin Using ... by rahimnathwani on Wednesday February 08, 2017 @10:10PM (#13604336)

"It works the same way here"

here = UK?

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