Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Davey Winder is a veteran cybersecurity writer, hacker and analyst. Update, Jan. 25, 2025: This story, originally published Jan.

Online verification has become a big part of how we stay safe and private on the web. Every app, website, or service now wants to confirm you’re real. But giving out your personal number can be risky.

People who have their phone numbers online could be at risk for scammers using their number to create a Google Voice phone number. Something as simple as putting a phone number on a Craigslist ad, ...

Learn how temporary phone numbers help protect online privacy, reduce data exposure, and improve security during SMS-based ...

Telegram this week announced an update with some new features, and there’s one in particular that’s quite interesting. The platform will now allow businesses to use Telegram for phone number ...

Why wait for the blue check mark when you can get a shield with ‘verified phone number’ right above your following count. And since you can have ten different accounts under one phone number, that is ...

If you want your privacy back, then you should definitely check out these free email services without phone verification. Back in the day, you could just login to the internet and create an email ...

Last week, app researcher Jane Manchun Wong pointed out that Twitter is testing a new profile badge for people who have verified their phone numbers. Earlier this month, app sleuth Nima Owji also ...