T-Mobile might be including a brand new layer of safety to its port-out course of with the addition of a six-digit PIN, in accordance with The T-Mo Report. The new quantity switch process would reportedly require customers to acquire a PIN from T-Mobile’s app or website and supply it when trying to vary their quantity to a special supplier, which might make it more durable for dangerous actors to steal individuals’s numbers.

According to The T-Mo Report, T-Mobile has introduced the method internally however hasn’t rolled it out but to prospects. It’ll additionally reportedly solely be out there to postpaid prospects to start out, not together with individuals signed up by way of the Lifeline program.

T-Mobile didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request to substantiate these plans. The T-Mo Report cited an inside firm doc it stated it had obtained.

It’s good to listen to that T-Mobile could also be including this characteristic, because it might assist stop SIM-swapping assaults, the place a scammer convinces a telecommunications supplier to switch a telephone quantity into their management. As Android Police notes, Verizon and AT&T have already applied quantity switch PINs. While it won’t stop all SIM-swapping assaults (in concept, an attacker with a T-Mobile account and gadget wouldn’t need to undergo the port-out course of because the quantity could be staying in the identical community), the PIN requirement can act as one other line of protection along with T-Mobile’s current account takeover safety instruments.

SIM swap, or porting-out, assaults have seemingly grow to be well-liked with cybercriminals in recent times and have been implicated in high-profile instances like when then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter account was hacked. They’re enticing for a number of causes: they supply a wealth of data (many two-factor codes are nonetheless despatched by way of SMS), and it may be tough for a sufferer to appreciate they’ve been attacked and get better from it. The Federal Communications Commission recommends instantly contacting your cell provider should you suspect somebody has swapped your SIM, however that may be tough to do provided that your telephone will now not be practical.

T-Mobile’s fame for safety has taken a number of hits lately, as the corporate has been affected by a string of knowledge breaches and cybersecurity incidents. While some have been comparatively minor, one in August 2021 affected over 50 million individuals.