Switching Mobile Carriers to Be Made Harder

jimbobaus on 17/10/2019 - 07:45
Last edited 17/10/2019 - 11:05 by 1 other user

While a few carriers have already implemented 2 factor authentication the government has decided to regulate porting even further. Changes will include identification checks and a new system that would check ownership of a number. Things like name and address on losing carriers account system would need to match, also the ID being provided to the new carrier would have to be exact on losing carriers system.

For now they are intending to make 2FA a requirement for every carrier in Australia, not just the bigger ones who have self imposed this system.

Personally given how it's essentially easier to port a postpaid number (all you need is the account #) than prepaid (DOB"s have to match) I think any change which protects the consumer is a good thing.

More info in this article

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  Bypass on 17/10/2019 - 09:11

  Account number is easier than DOB?

  • 

    tomsco on 17/10/2019 - 09:24

    +1

    Well if you grab a phone bill from someone's letter box, chances are it will have the account number on it.

    • 

      Randxyz123 on 17/10/2019 - 10:46

      +1

      I don’t know of that many people who get paper bills now days?

      • 

        tomsco on 17/10/2019 - 10:51

        Regardless of it it is paper or electronic, I'm sure you will find a lot more documents will have an account number as opposed to a DOB.

        In saying that, as OP stated, fewer forms of ID can pose a risk. 2FA is becoming more and more important in this day and age.

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  burningrage on 17/10/2019 - 09:15

  I think just another big brother but we shall see.

  I mean, these ID issues have been around for decades and 2FA has always been around ever since Citibank introduced OTP which they could have ported for this use but why now?

  Again, we shall see.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 09:20

    I've never seen a telco offering 2FA for porting numbers before now - if anything this would make the unauthorised porting of numbers much harder.

  • 

    EDM on 17/10/2019 - 09:37

    I used to work in this space, a lot of fraud occurs from unauthorised porting and I've heard reports of telcos not asking for a DOB (over the phone likely). A mobile number can access and verify so many different things these days, and with the number of companies pushing for 2FA on login it was only going to get worse without government intervention.

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  poboy on 17/10/2019 - 10:07

  +3

  i think any change which protects the consumer is a good thing.

  I would like to know the fraud numbers and size of the problem before making this call. Government policy has been to slowly erode our privacy without us realising. This is to 'make it easier for us' or to 'reduce crime', but the long term trade off is worrying. Perhaps a more authoritarian government may come to power in 5, 10 or 20 years. With almost unvetted access to their data they would be able to sway public opinion and quash uprisings before it happens.

  While this is a heavy sentiment in this lighter thread - keep in mind that government intrusion into our privacy is a stepping stone that will be abused in the future. Especially if our response is 'oh, ha ha… yeah right'.

  • My health record
  • Australia's encryption laws
  • Australia's meta data laws
  • welfare card
  • raids on the ABC
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    burningrage on 17/10/2019 - 21:23

    The best example currently is Single Touch Payroll (STP).

    Marketed as a tool to ensure employers paying super but that's ancillary to the ultimate aim of ATO being able to see taxpayers' income live as opposed to end of year and will be able to quickly match income to wealth ratio. It would not be long before FAO will get involved and determined, based on interim income in STP, to cut off entitlements due to the likelihood of overpayment (ie: Robocall scandal).

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    kmwa on 20/10/2019 - 15:55

    "Fraud numbers and size of the problem?" - Fraudulent number porting affects thousands of consumers each year with average losses of more than $10,000. From https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2019/10/16/fighting-b…
    If you want to read a "victim impact statement", an American describes it here as The Most Expensive Lesson Of My Life https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-most-expensive-lesson-of-my… He lost $100,000.
    Preventing illegal number porting in Australia is extremely difficult and I've had to adopt some sneaky tricks to protect myself. As far as I'm concerned, the new regulations and 2FA can't come fast enough.

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  Randxyz123 on 17/10/2019 - 10:45

  Good.
  I know a lot of people on here change providers every month but it really is a big problem within the industry.

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  H E B on 17/10/2019 - 11:36

  +1

  I might be reading this wrong. But I thought it's been fairly common amongst most of the carriers nowadays whereby porting requires a normal government ID check anyway, just like signing up to a new prepaid account.

  Years ago it used to be just DOB It's been quite sometime since I encountered non ID verification whilst signing up to a new service or porting.

  • 

    jimbobaus on 17/10/2019 - 12:19

    Activating the sim card requires ID yes and the DOB would need to match to port a Prepaid.
    To port a Postpaid you can use your id, but the info does not have to match, the only thing that matters is the account number
    the new system will cross check the details on loosing carriers system with gaining carrier.. if they do not match 100% the port will not proceed.

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  iampoor on 17/10/2019 - 12:40

  I might be wrong but don't the larger Telcos already do 2FA?

  I ported recently and not only had to put in details etc as per the above, I also received an SMS with a verification number which I needed to input to complete the port.

  • 

    jimbobaus on 17/10/2019 - 12:41

    that's the point, the big 3 do it, they are now making it compulsory for all of them to do it and will be introducing stricter steps in the future.

    • 

      H E B on 17/10/2019 - 12:55

      If anything I'm more concerned about the SMS number as a lot of people wiil churn prepaid and by then they have no credits.

      Isn't it a better thing, especially for postpaid for them to introduce additional checks given there's technically a line of credit provided on your phone bill?

      • 

        jimbobaus on 17/10/2019 - 14:22

        They are doing it across the board
        So many things can be stolen with your mobile number, 2fa for banks etc

        they wont do it just for postpaid.
        If you do not have credit on your phone for prepaid then you can call the loosing carrier and they will help you port.
        or you can just port before your credit expires.

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  kmwa on 20/10/2019 - 15:36

  +1

  "The larger Telcos already do 2FA". Yeah, right.
  Like Telstra will do 2FA if you port into them, sending a code to the old mobile before completing the transfer. But if your number is ported out, they just do it - that's what the current regulations say they have to do. Whether it's you or a bad guy requesting the port…
  Originally, the current lax system was really good. Telstra in particular used to do everything it could to prevent customers porting out to their competition, so the existing regulations to force telcos to port on demand was sorely needed.
  But now, illegal SIM porting and the identity theft that it facilitates is a big risk for everyone. All that you need with some telcos is the victim's phone number and Date of Birth, which you can often get from social media.
  I just hope that the new regulations and implementation get it right. All it takes is one rogue telco that hasn't implemented 2FA and the door is wide open. I can imagine a rogue operator based overseas becoming the go-to telco for the bad guys. In America, they allow you to put a stop in your account to prevent porting - you have to take it off before you can port. That's what they should do here.