Who uses voicemail these days? \u201cNo one\u201d is probably the first response on most people\u2019s lips. That answer is both right and wrong. True, not many people use voicemail now, yet many mobile subscribers have the service \u2014 and it\u2019s still in good working order, even if somewhat neglected.<\/p>\n
And remember: Just because you don\u2019t use your voicemail doesn\u2019t mean no one else does. In his report \u201cCompromising online accounts by cracking voicemail systems<\/a>\u201d at DEF CON 26, security researcher Martin Vigo<\/a> demonstrated that voicemail might be of interest to intruders looking to hack into your online accounts.<\/p>\n In fact, most operators allow access to your voice mailbox not only from your phone, but also using an external phone number \u2014 in which case access is protected with a PIN. However voicemail PINs are often far from secure. A lot of subscribers use default codes set by the operator \u2014 usually either the last digits of the phone number or something simple like 1111 or 1234.<\/p>\n Moreover, even if the subscriber bothers to change the PIN, the probability of it being guessed is still fairly high: As another research shows<\/a>, when it comes to thinking up PINs, people are even less inventive than they are with passwords.<\/p>\n First, the PIN is likely to consist of four digits, even if it\u2019s technically possible to make it longer. Second, many users opt for easy-to-remember strings of four identical digits or combinations such as 1234, 9876, 2580 (the middle vertical row on the phone keypad), and the like. PINs beginning with 19xx are also very popular. Knowing these quirks makes it quicker and simpler to crack a voice mailbox.<\/p>\n