Cryptocurrency investor and entrepreneur Michael Terpin discovered his phone number had been moved to a new SIM in 2018, when attackers used that access to reset passwords and steal millions in cryptocurrency. The incident, an archetypal SIM swap, and the litigation that followed made clear how a single exposed phone number can turn public visibility into catastrophic loss. That is the exact risk wealthy individuals and high-profile companies now pay boutique privacy teams to manage.
Public profiles, data-broker records, legacy social handles and archived accounts create an attack surface attackers can monetize in hours. A scraped home address, an old email or a leaked phone number lets imposters stitch together enough detail to impersonate a trusted contact or convince support staff to hand over access. Law enforcement reporting shows that account takeover remains widespread; the FBI IC3 report and contemporary journalism documenting a recent SIM-swap surge reinforce that point.
Technical controls like passwords and standard two-factor authentication help, but attackers often exploit human processes at service providers, flawed verification scripts, split responsibilities and rushed help-desk interactions. That is why defensive plans must change the processes attackers target as much as the tools they use.
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