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SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

zdnet.com

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Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#111

Post by 8ytecoder »

ineedasername wrote: post #84

Google really fails hard in the face of providing support when issues like this occur. The average person has to try various automated account recovery options which, as in the author's case, are readily changeable the moment the account is compromised, rendering them somewhat useless, and then users are out of luck. It's a situation that is mind-boggling. Users as asked to place a significant chunk of their digital…

This is why I panicked when they announced they won't sync Google Photos with Google Drive anymore. With the sync, I can setup one of my computers to constantly download the photos and then copy it onto a local backup and an online backup. If my Google Account gets locked - I'll just copy the photos into something else and move on with my life. They removed that saying it's confusing to users - all the while it was an option users had to go explicitly enable.

I switched to iCloud which supports the download feature.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#112

Post by module0000 »

throw7 wrote: post #105

Don't use an sms/voice phone number as part of your 2-step verification in Google. In the past, I did use a verizon landline phone number as Verizon had the ability to "lock/freeze" that number from any outside changes, but I got rid of my landline a while ago. Also, print out some backup codes and stick it in your wallet. I have no idea what month and year I created my google account, and google doesn't seem to make…

> Also, print out some backup codes and stick it in your wallet.

The idea of backup codes is good. Putting them in your wallet reduces your security though. Depending on the value of your accounts, you give a (physical) attacker everything he or she needs to compromise you.

If you are going to keep these things on your person, consider protecting them with a hand-written cipher. Example: https://www.schneier.com/academic/solitaire/

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#113

Post by tempsolution »

The author really hasn't learnt anything if he thinks that enabling all Google recovery options is the right thing to do. The only thing you should ever use is "Google Authenticator" and then store a copy of its recovery codes in a safe place (bank vault or zero-knowledge encrypted online storage). But better yet, don't use GMail in the first place.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#114

Post by dangThatSucks »

Analemma_ wrote: post #107
ineedasername wrote: post #84

Google really fails hard in the face of providing support when issues like this occur. The average person has to try various automated account recovery options which, as in the author's case, are readily changeable the moment the account is compromised, rendering them somewhat useless, and then users are out of luck. It's a situation that is mind-boggling. Users as asked to place a significant chunk of their digital…

> People who pay for G-suite have real support, even ::gasp:: telephone support. Why on earth does google not offer this to consumer users? I know people are getting sick of this phrase, but I'm going to repeat it here anyway because it answers your question perfectly: why doesn't Google have customer support? They do, but if the product is free, you're not the customer. As you note, Google does have real customer su…

Google One advertises real support for consumer users... but it turns out they can't really so anything but read support docs to you.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#115

Post by darkpuma »

tooop wrote: post #85
darkpuma wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the identity theft occurred, what about the the author made him particularly "not average"? Being an early twitter adopter or something?

I wouldn't call a writer for ZDnet who probably has a very public persona an average JOE.

A writer for ZDnet might be a public figure, but to call him "very public" seems like a stretch. There are probably millions of people as public or more than him.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#116

Post by jandrese »

btrettel wrote: post #92
din-9 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gmail alone is easy - use POP in a mail client, set it to mark stuff read, leave it on the server etc https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en

I'll agree that POP is pretty easy and worthwhile here. One caveat: I'm not certain that it's identical to what Takeout provides. I downloaded the mbox file via Takeout and the Takeout version was a fair bit larger than my Thunderbird mbox file as I recall. Maybe Thunderbird stores the emails more efficiently than Takeout? I should examine this more closely. As far as I am aware there are no missing emails in Thunder…

The takeout file might be compressed too. Most mail clients don't bother to compress anything.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#117

Post by lkuty »

IMHO. "I trusted cloud services to store my data". I never do that. I have multiple offline encrypted backup copies (on-site and off-site). I do not trust anything out of my arm's reach. The cloud is not an option for serious backups (unless you have n copies with different vendors + offline backups). I think the convenience of the cloud (with encryption) is an option when you have offline backups. I hope you will get your data back and that nothing will be compromised.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#118

Post by Someone1234 »

dangThatSucks wrote: post #114
Analemma_ wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who pay for G-suite have real support, even ::gasp:: telephone support. Why on earth does google not offer this to consumer users? I know people are getting sick of this phrase, but I'm going to repeat it here anyway because it answers your question perfectly: why doesn't Google have customer support? They do, but if the product is free, you're not the customer. As you note, Google does have real customer su…

Google One advertises real support for consumer users... but it turns out they can't really so anything but read support docs to you.

Is this a reference to something? I haven't heard much about Google One's support good or bad.

The concern I'd have with G-One is that if you lost access to your account, you also aren't a Google One customer, and the support likely won't assist you. Creating a chicken/egg situation.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#119

Post by zyx321 »

sdinsn wrote: post #103
zyx321 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did they get your 4-digit PIN? Don't you have to enter it on every reboot?

Phones' PINs aren't connected to SIMs. I have to enter my PIN on reboot, even if I removed my SIM. Putting the SIM in a phone without a PIN results in nothing being required. Edit: Thanks for correcting me- I guess my SIM does not have a PIN.

A SIM card has its own PIN, completely independent from the phone's pin. If I put my SIM in someone else's phone, it will ask for my PIN, even when they don't have a PIN set.

Re: SIM swap horror story: I've lost decades of data and Google won't help

#120

Post by jrochkind1 »

CloudNetworking wrote: post #68
mbauman wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ayup. Here's what I got back from them: In light of the extended Fraud on your account, I believe that due to the 7 day lapse between you collecting the SIM and returning to the USA, then your details could have been compromised anywhere. In all probability, this occurred in the USA as this is where the accounts have been set up and believed the fraudsters would have had to have been in order to benefit from the crim…

I understand your frustration, but I also think they have a point. What you're telling us is all based on your educated guesses as to how they might have pulled this. There are things that feel a bit weird and I'm guessing you have no evidence to prove them, such as the scammer shipping the real SIM back to Atlanta in time before you realise the issue. How did you realise the SIM card you were handed was fake? Couldn…

That might be reasonable. It also makes the scam OP is guessing happened a pretty good criminal scam, since the police will refuse to investigate it...

I mean, what possible additional evidence could one plausibly have that the guessed scam is indeed what happened?

Which is the scary thing about all these SIM-theft things. It clear happened, there's really no way for the victim to know how/where/what/when/who.

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