T-Mobile’s little known NOPORT setting can protect your phone number from SIM swapping

guest · Sep 13, 2019

T-Mobile Has a Secret Setting to Protect Your Account From Hackers That It Refuses to Talk About
September 13, 2019
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...nt-from-hackers-that-it-refuses-to-talk-about

T-Mobile has a feature that gives its customers more protection from hackers trying to steal their phone number, but you probably don't know it exists because the company doesn't advertise it publicly and won't even talk about it.

It’s called “NOPORT” and, in theory, it makes it a bit harder for criminals to hijack phone numbers with an attack known as “SIM swapping,” a type of social engineering that Motherboard has covered extensively and which is increasingly being used to steal people's phone numbers.
In theory, this should make it impossible for someone to do a SIM swap (also known as SIM hijacking or port-out scam) over the phone.

But it’s unclear whether all T-Mobile customers can have NOPORT or how effective it really is. T-Mobile doesn't even inform customers that it exists. I learned about it from a tipster, and then confirmed that it is indeed real.
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She explained that this is a special feature that makes it impossible to port out your number to another carrier unless the account holder visits a store and allows a T-Mobile representative to check a government issued photo ID.

NOPORT is not documented on any T-Mobile websites, and when I asked a company spokesperson about it, she said: “As you know, port validation is a standard security feature applied to all T-Mobile accounts through the use of a PIN/passcode. We do take other security measures, at our discretion, to protect against extreme cases of fraud. I am not able to go into other detail.”
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T-Mobile’s little known NOPORT setting can protect your phone number from SIM swapping

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