Finance News
By Steven Anderson
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SIM-Swap Attacks Are Already Expensive. Here's the part that should worry anyone holding crypto.
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Who Gets Covered — and Who Doesn't. One of the biggest unresolved questions in the proposal is scope.
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Privacy Gaps the FCC Hasn't Answered. What's striking about the proposal is what it doesn't address.
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The FCC wants telecoms to collect a lot more data on you. Names, addresses, government IDs — the works.
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The proposal, filed under CG Docket Nos. 17-59 and 02-278 on May 26, asks voice service providers to gather extensive customer information as part of a push to cut down on…
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Here's the part that should worry anyone holding crypto. Phone numbers sit at the center of most account recovery and two-factor authentication systems.
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In 2021 alone, there were 1,611 complaints of SIM-swapping filed with authorities, and losses that year topped $68 million.
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The logic isn't complicated. Right now, some phone accounts — especially prepaid — carry minimal identity data. Attackers targeting those accounts get a phone number.
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The FCC's proposal also asks carriers to collect IP addresses for high-volume users. That adds another layer of potentially sensitive information sitting in telecom databases.
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One of the biggest unresolved questions in the proposal is scope. The FCC hasn't decided whether KYC requirements will apply to all customers or only to commercial originators —…
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That distinction matters enormously. If the rule targets only commercial originators, most individual users probably won't feel much change.
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Read also: WhiteBIT Grabs MiCA License in Austria Ahead of the EUs July 1 Crypto Deadline
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The FCC is explicitly asking whether prepaid SIM cards and retail customers should face the same requirements as high-volume users. No answer yet.
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Not really a minor footnote. The prepaid question is arguably the whole ballgame for privacy-conscious users.
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What's striking about the proposal is what it doesn't address. There's no clear framework in the current text for how carriers must protect the data they collect.
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