.png){kind=logo}
Our phones have gradually taken over the central role in our day-to-day activities, from social media, shopping, banking, and even, at times, our work stuff. While we take full advantage of our smartphones' capabilities, we must remember the inbuilt security features to protect the phone from unauthorized use.
While we do lock our phones from having anyone access the contents, what we should also do is lock our SIM card via the PIN feature from getting affected by SIM swapping by the threat actors. This feature ensures that even if someone has access to your SIM card, they cannot use it for any form of unauthorized usage, like accessing our banking information.
Our SIM cards are essential because our phone numbers are linked to various financial and confidential sources like email accounts. It's scary how even a SIM card needs to have its security feature enabled, considering the increasing cyber crimes in our society. Here are some ways to measure against SIM swappings based on your phone types, like Android or iPhone.
On your Android phone, go to Settings > Security > More security settings and tap SIM card lock.
Turn on Lock SIM and enter the default PIN if it's set up for the first time.
Once enabled, tap Change SIM PIN to change the default PIN.
After setting up the new PIN, restart your phone and enter the new PIN to ensure the setup was successful. Enter your old PIN and after that, enter your new PIN and finally tap OK.
While entering an old PIN, avoid making three wrong attempts, as it blocks the SIM card. The SIM lock feature on your Samsung phones is a bit different, and the steps involve
Settings > Biometrics and Security > Other security settings
Set up SIM lock > Lock SIM card toggle.
Please change the default PIN to a new PIN.
On your iPhones, you can take the steps as
Settings > Cellular > SIM PIN > Tap SIM PIN.
If it's our first time, enter the default SIM PIN, and if you don't know, please check with your respective carrier.
Many of the latest phones come with the eSIM feature, which is a more secure option since there aren't any physical SIM cards, but it's strongly recommended to use SIM lock on your eSIM too, as it has the feature too.