Is your OTP Really Safe? You Need to Think Again | OTP SMS Redirect

OTP, one time password, we all are aware of this term, aren’t we? OTPs have quite common in our day-to-day life. Whenever we sign/sign up on our social accounts we may be asked for OTP ( mostly for security purposes). Whenever we do an online transaction through money transfer apps we need to enter the OTP in order to confirm that the transaction is made by the authorized user.

We all think that OTP adds a second layer of security in our digital life. Yes, it does but recent news reports have made us think again. In a recent attack by hackers, a person’s text messages of social accounts like WhatsApp and Bumble were redirected to their system,. This service is meant only for business users. They redirect the customer’s SMSes to their system.

OTP SMS Redirect

A hacker recently redirected the message meant for Joseph Cox, a journalist in Motherboard. Joseph covers news reports on hacking, privacy and other security topics.

Statement from Sakari, the original company a hacker used to reroute my text messages and break into my accounts https://t.co/uufEcggOuv pic.twitter.com/dHvRfQo01a

— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) March 26, 2021

He said that the messages were redirected to the hacker’s system. Probably this has been caused due to a security flaw in a telecommunication company. The company has given an official statement in the same case ( shared above).

In most cases, the victims are able to identify that their phone has been hacked but in this case, the victims will not be able to do so initially.

Well, OTPs are meant for added security but just imagine that a hacker can easily ruin your happy going life if he gets access to OTPs of your bank accounts, your social media accounts, etc. We suggest you to use your email for the OTPs and other such messages. You can also use the authenticator app for more security.

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