09 Nov He Thought His Phone Was Secure; Then He Lost $24 Million to Hackers
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The first hint that
Michael Terpin
was about to have his digital life turned upside down—and lose a cryptocurrency windfall potentially valued at $24 million—seemed like an unremarkable annoyance. His mobile phone lost its signal.
But Mr. Terpin wasn’t driving between cell towers. He was working at a desk in his Las Vegas home. Way off in Norwich, Conn., someone had just taken over his phone number.
Within minutes, the hackers began trying to take over his Gmail accounts, using Google’s “Forgot password?” account reset feature. With access to his phone number and email, they were quickly able to steal millions in cryptocurrency from digital wallets Mr. Terpin believed to be secure.
Online, phone numbers have been slowly taking over passwords as our last line of defense against digital intrusions. As it has become clear that passwords alone don’t do enough to keep users secure, technology companies have been pushing an alternative—what…
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