FIX Network secures global phone numbers for their first 10 million users
The recent wave of SIM swap attacks have highlighted the often discussed problems concerning the unsatisfactory security levels of cellular infrastructure and applications that are used for authentication, such as 2FA over text messages. There have been many high-profile cases involving significant financial losses due to hijacked phone numbers, and both the subscribers and service providers are demanding a full architectural and operational overhaul of the current system.
While the ultimate goal for FIX Network is to provide comprehensive blockchain-based solutions for securing our digital assets and identities by safekeeping private keys on users’ SIM cards, there is an urgent and immediate requirement to secure our most valuable Digital Identity — our phone number. Because of this compelling issue, as a first step, FIX Network will provide a free-to-use 2FA application, together with newly issued and truly subscriber-owned phone numbers that will serve as secure and global Digital Identities. This service will also include the practical ability to recover access to Digital Identities through user-defined policies that include the subscriber’s trusted social circle and/or FIX-enabled, non-swappable SIM cards.
The phone numbers to be used for this 2FA solution have been recently assigned by the ITU as International Shared Country Code numbers with prefix of +883. These numbers will be truly owned and fully controlled by the subscriber, preventing unauthorized porting or malicious hijacking of the phone number. This solution will also include a free-to-use API that will enable service providers to deliver 2FA messages directly to FIX Network, removing the risk of message interception. While this interim version is centralized, the final architecture includes fully decentralized, independent and peer-to-peer secure messaging infrastructure governed by blockchain-based, user-defined policies.
“We’ve been allocated 10’000’000 dedicated phone numbers by our partner, DIDWW, to launch the initial version of our product,” said Itamar Kunik, the CEO of FIX Network. “Our first batch of 10’000 SIM cards are expected to be delivered by the end of September 2019. To show our appreciation to our early adopters, and because this phone number is a true and valuable Digital Identity, we have secured an exclusive range of these assets for our community. These numbers, +883 5170 0000 XXXX will be sequentially assigned to the first 10’000 SIM cards purchased.”
One of the prime targets for SIM swap crimes are the crypto exchanges and social networks, and FIX Network will address these service providers as a priority in order for them to integrate the secure 2FA solution into their online authentication procedures.
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