What happened to the Ho.Mobile users?
The Bank_Security Twitter profile reports the theft (and sale) of Ho.Mobile customer data, but Vodafone denies
The names, dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers of two and a half million users of the Ho.Mobile operator, Vodafone's low cost company, may have ended up on the dark web.
The phone company denies it, but customers could be at risk of being scammed. Let's go step by step.
WHAT HAS (OR COULD BE) HAPPENED
Let's start with the facts. Better, from the alleged facts. According to the Bank_Security cyberattack observatory, Ho.Mobile customer data has been stolen.
The names, dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers of 2.5 million users would end up on a forum in the Dark Web, a computer network that guarantees the anonymity of those who surf. Also published the ICCID code, which identifies the sim.
THE BANK_SECURITY COMPLAINT ABOUT HO.MOBILE
This was reported on December 28 by the Twitter profile of Bank_Security, which is active in identifying archives of personal data online. In the post there is also a screenshot of the seller's announcement, with an obscured username, which highlights that the data went on sale on December 22, so more than two weeks ago.
THE DISPOSAL OF VODAFONE
Vodafone, owner of the Ho brand, has no evidence of maximum data theft.
“Ho.Mobile has no evidence of massive access to its IT systems that have jeopardized the customer base data. In collaboration with the investigative authorities, we have launched investigations for further investigations ”, writes Vodafone.
THE CONSEQUENCES
Yet if data theft were confirmed, users would be at risk of scams and blackmail, since the ICCID code allows for number portability.
WHAT THE USERS OF HO.MOBILE RISK
Users whose data has been stolen, writes Repubblica , could be the victim of sim swap, a hacking that is growing rapidly in Italy. In practice, with the data it would be possible to obtain a sim in the name of the victim and through this "control over that phone number, where he can receive temporary passwords for access to various services". Even those in the current account, which could thus be emptied.
PAGANINI: IMPORTANT REPERCUSSIONS ON THE SAFETY PROFILE
"The eventual incident would be among the most important in Italy from the entry into force of the European regulation on privacy GDPR which provides for important sanctions if the mobile operator is responsible for it", says Pierluigi Paganini, professor at the master cybersecurity at the Luiss of Rome. “There would also be important repercussions from the point of view of the security of users who could be exposed to sim swapping attacks”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/che-cosa-e-successo-agli-utenti-di-ho-mobile/ on Thu, 31 Dec 2020 14:33:49 +0000.