Report: Your phone number reveals more personal info than your name

According to a recent New York Times article, your phone number has loads of personal information attached to it. 

Quite often, websites and apps ask us for our phone number when logging in or creating an account. However, by using searching for your phone number on WhitePages.com, a hacker can learn your address, past addresses, other places where you’ve lived, past phone numbers including your parent’s phone numbers, the size of your home, the cost of property taxes, and even your criminal record. With this info, a hacker could also learn your name, birthday, and more!

Sometimes, a website or app requests that you enter your phone number for legitimate reasons. For example, food delivery apps typically ask for one so that they can call you if you don’t answer your phone. Other apps use them to make the login process easier.

Before you give out your phone number to any app or website, check some reviews to make sure that the app isn’t known for doing anything shady. Also, before you give your phone number to any person that you don’t know, make sure that it is someone you trust because you are giving them more than just your digits.