Hacker News Reader

Carrier authentication is not huge. The vast majority of communications services today are secure without a SIM, even ones that are tied to your number. Ever notice that iMessage keeps working without a SIM? The SIM card is mostly a relic that is useful to the carrier oligopoly because it increases network switching friction.

View on HN

If someone is able to authenticate as your phone number, they can set up iMessage and receive a copy of your future messages.

Wouldn't they need to at least need to log in with your iCloud credentials?

nope iMessage does not require iCloud

This is wrong. iMessage uses your Apple ID and is definitely iCloud based. That's how it can tell the state of messages from device to device.

you wouldn't be able to authenticate on the data network without a sim. unless you exclusively use wifi the carrier network is still a huge part of everyone daily phone use

Reply on news.ycombinator.com