1 / 15Have you ever thought about what happens to the data associated with your phone number when you get a new number? 2 / 15Well, telecom companies often recycle your old number and provide it to a new user. 3 / 15However, with your old number, all the data associated with it also becomes accessible to the new user and this could pose a privacy risk.4 / 15When you change your number, you don’t always immediately update all the information on your e-commerce portals or digital accounts. 5 / 15This puts you at risk of your information being accessed by the new user of your old number.6 / 15Researchers at Princeton University found the whole act of recycling numbers can put the users at security and privacy risks. 7 / 15The report revealed that a journalist after getting a new number was bombarded d with texts containing blood test results and spa appointment reservations. 8 / 15“We obtained 200 recycled numbers for one week and found 19 of them were still receiving security/privacy-sensitive calls and messages (e.g., authentication passcodes, prescription refill reminders). New owners who are unknowingly assigned a recycled number may realize the incentives to exploit upon receiving unsolicited sensitive communication, and become opportunistic adversaries,” Arvind Narayanan, one of the researchers said in the report. 9 / 15Once a number is assigned to a new subscriber, they can phish the subscriber through SMS, the report states. 10 / 15Subscribers tend to fall for phishing attacks when the messages seem believable. 11 / 15The attacker can also use the number to sign up for y sign up for various alerts, newsletters, campaigns, and robocalls. 12 / 15Hackers can also use the recycled number break into profiles linked with the number t online via SMS-authenticated password resets.13 / 1514 / 1515 / 15