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The amount of excitement our office has over this Chainlink SIM swap news is a bit embarrassing.
Kevin, our intern, even brought in confetti which seemed a little intense. (On brand for him though.)
But, you may be thinking, what in the world are we talking about?
Chainlink is that data-oracle company we love to write about (like we did here).
‘Oracles’ take real world data (e.g. weather forecasts) and put it on the blockchain, and Chainlink happens to be the leading project in the space.
So what are SIM Swaps?
Hackers will contact a mobile provider → pretend to be someone they’re not (but provide enough info to fake it) → get a new SIM sent out to them.
Once they have your mobile number, they can start reseting passwords and accessing accounts left, right, and center.
Even people like ETH Daddy (i.e. Vitalik Buterin) have fallen victim to SIM swaps!
Okay, so where does Chainlink come in?
A Spanish telephone company, Telefónica, is partnering with Chainlink to essentially create the Web3 equivalent of 2FA.
When asking for mobile verification before processing a transaction, Chainlink will be able to check with Telefónica and make sure the SIM card/number hasn’t had any impromptu changes made to it recently.
Which is something to get excited about!
Because the threat of getting hacked is one of the biggest deterrents to Web3 adoption.
